28th June 2011, 08:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 28th June 2011, 08:47 AM by Marcus Brody.)
His original remarks were in no way presented as the start of a debate. They were presented as fait accompli - he said that ''from the 1st July. A requirement for an Archaeological dig/survey will not be required. The requirement will no longer feature at pre-app. Or form part of the committee agenda '. Not much scope for debate there, I'd say. No 'we will ask people for their opinion on...' or 'the council will look at whether it's feasible to...' Just a statement that a decision had been made.
As to Councillor Melton's statement that he knows the law, all I'd say is that his public statements would suggest otherwise, as endorsing a potentially-illegal course of action for his Council does not seem an appropriate path for a responsible council leader to take. And even if he does know the law, he seems willfully ignorant of planning guidance and policies, both at a national and local level, which again is not a quality I'd look for in appointing someone to make pronouncements on development issues. Aside from anything else, it would seem to have the potential to make the Council as a whole look a bit silly!
*When I started the above post, David hadn't posted the detail of his correspondence with Councillor Melton, which makes the first paragraph of my post redundant as he'd already raised that issue. Great minds and all that!
As to Councillor Melton's statement that he knows the law, all I'd say is that his public statements would suggest otherwise, as endorsing a potentially-illegal course of action for his Council does not seem an appropriate path for a responsible council leader to take. And even if he does know the law, he seems willfully ignorant of planning guidance and policies, both at a national and local level, which again is not a quality I'd look for in appointing someone to make pronouncements on development issues. Aside from anything else, it would seem to have the potential to make the Council as a whole look a bit silly!
*When I started the above post, David hadn't posted the detail of his correspondence with Councillor Melton, which makes the first paragraph of my post redundant as he'd already raised that issue. Great minds and all that!
You know Marcus. He once got lost in his own museum