Torbay Council has admitted what numerous Torbay residents have known all along – that their planning permission for the Cary Green development was “fatally flawed”.
The decision may well have far reaching ramifications for Torbay council and affect upcoming planning applications that concern Maidencombe – particularly the spectre of Sladnor Park.
Torbay council were ultimately brought to book by a Crowdfunding enterprise, which enabled legal expertise to challenge the development. Without this legal challenge, Torbay council would have continued to arrogantly ride rough shod over public condemnation of the project.
The widespread and draconian government cuts on local government have proved highly ‘convenient’ for Torbay planning oficers, leaving them in a position to basically ignore objections and correspondence from residents.
They have now been forced to consent to Judgment and the quashing of their permission for the highly contentious Cary Green development.
Torbay Council claimed in their public statement that the issue with their permission was a “legal technicality” concerning Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) relating to a new ‘interpretation’ of law. However, in reality, they failed to take into consideration existing legislation established last decade, which was recently reaffirmed.
Little known is the fact that Torbay Council have conveniently (for them) glossed over five separate grounds for Judicial Review. Whilst TC have agreed they failed on the MCZ, the other grounds put forward by the campaign will now also have to be adequately addressed at any further decision meeting.
The ball is now back in the developer’s court. One thing is now certain: this scheme and others should not and will not be permitted in the future based on deceitful economics and unlawful decisions.
Torbay Council has forced the community to take costly legal action against them. It should be a salutary lesson to Torbay council, and planning officers in particular, especially if and when the Sladnor Park PA surfaces.
Interestingly for Maidencombe, a spokesman for the campaign said: “As a community campaign, we seek to challenge what we see as a very unsound planning decision. It disregards local and national policies for the Conservation Area; arguably, it fails to economically justify the significant harm that the scheme would cause, and the voices and objections of locals and visitors have been consistently ignored.”
All this sounds very familiar as residents in Maidencombe digest recent highly contentious decisions that were vigorously opposed and ask how flawed were these?