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Planning panel do U-turn on games room plan that was approved four months ago

The owner of a farmhouse granted permission to build a new games room earlier this year has been dragged back before a council planning panel following a complaint.

In May, the panel approved the plan to build a multi-functional games room at Meadow Bank Farm for applicant Geoffrey Howarth’s family – going against officer’s recommendations to refuse it. The planning team did not believe the single-storey building met the special criteria required to build on green belt land.

The Howarth Farm Road site in Littlemoss was seen as ‘very minimal harm to the green belt’ in the eyes of all but Councillors Adrian Pearce and Doreen Dickinson.

Four months later the applicants were told to come back before the panel in Guardsman Tony Downes House “because of officer concerns regarding the robustness of the decision”. The planning report claimed that ‘concerns arose from no planning-based reasons being given’ for approving the item against officer recommendations.

This baffled Jason Dugdale, the applicant’s representative in the room on September 11, who said he only recently received news of a complaint over the previous decision and concerns raised by the planning officers.

“I am a bit shocked I’m here again to be honest,” he told the panel. “Despite those objections (from Coun Pearce and Coun Dickinson) this was voted for by the members of the panel five to two.

“This is democracy and the members were given a free choice and voted for this. One of the reasons given for bringing this back was that there were no conditions provided by the members. 

“Never in my years of covering planning have I seen this.”

Mr Dugdale asked the members to approve the item once again, just like they did in May.

This time though Coun David Mills, who proposed the plan for approval four months ago, declared an interest in the application alongside Coun Susan Quinn. Both panel members had to leave the room whilst the application was discussed.

During the debate, Coun Dickinson expressed her disappointment in the applicant who gave no ‘special circumstances’ for building on green belt land. 

For this reason, Coun Dickinson proposed refusal, which was backed by the panel.

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