Self-build success outside of the Settlement Boundary

Attending Planning Committee with our clients this afternoon we received a unanimously positive decision from Forest of Dean Development committee members for a self-build dwelling just outside of the Hartpury Settlement Boundary for a local family who had met with unfortunate circumstances.

The FoD Planning Officer and committee members wasted no time. They understood the urgent need for the development, did not debate it, did not even ask questions, and unanimously approved it following the Planning Officer’s recommendation.

On the way back to the office I reflected upon the decision and wondered if the same sort of understanding and Cllr support could be achieved on the other side of the Government’s totally unnecessary plans for the forthcoming amalgamation of Local Authorities.

I feel that the Government’s plans will lose a lot – most notably in this case the flexibility that Local Government allows in its current form and I believe that this will be a retrograde step.

I cheered myself up with a detour to St Mary, St Peter and St Paul Church in Westbury-on-Severn to look at the Crusader marks, understood to have been made by people on their way to (or returning from) the continent circa 800 years ago and which are etched into the north door of this truly remarkable church.

Anyway – Another day as a rural planner…..