Extra Parish Council meeting

The extra Parish Council meeting on Monday night was called to discuss two specific issues – the closure of the village Post Office and the suggestion that the Moorsfield/Tollgate planning application be "called in".

The Post Office

Councillors resolved to write formally to both the Post Office Counters Company and to the Royal Mail sorting office, to

• stress the importance of these functions to the village.
• applaud the resolve expressed by these organisations to resurrect the services.
• ask for a commitment to implement a "stop-gap" service by a defined date.

The Tollgate/Moorsfield planning application

At a meeting with residents just prior to the Neighbourhood Plan being "made", it had been suggested that there might be some benefit in asking the local MP, Antoinette Sandbach, to "call in" the application for special consideration by the Planning Inspectorate.

After a careful debate, some of it trying to cope with abstruse planning law and procedure in a very new and untested area (i.e. a "made" Neighbourhood Plan coming up against a determined developer), Councillors felt that the "calling in" is not necessarily beneficial at this stage and the better procedure would be to allow the planning process to go through its normal tortuous path, keeping the "calling in" option as a possible later option.

The resolution 'to follow the normal planning route, reserving the option to "call in" for the future if necessary' was then passed by a unanimous vote of those Councillors who had not declared an interest in this matter.

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