Planning Action Group

At last week's Audlem Parish Council meeting, the idea of Audlem forming a new Planning Action Group was suggested and AudlemOnline agreed to publish articles encouraging volunteers to come forward – and following the principles of all good groups, suggesting a few pressed men and women with appropriate experience and skills.

This was followed up a few days later by a constructive session in the Lord C with Phillip Johnson, the new chairman of the Parish Council, and the webteam. Here, it was emphasised that the group should be looking not only at ways and means to fight speculative, opportunistic developers like Gladman.

As much focus was to be placed also on how the locations and numbers of new homes that meet Audlem's needs should be planned properly over the coming years, reflecting local opinion. This would be in keeping with Cheshire East's forecasts of how many houses are needed, rather than on how many fields speculators want to cover in Gladman-style proposals.

Perhaps inspired by the Lord Combermere's excellent panini consumed that day, or the upcoming Music Festival, the name PAGANINI has just come to mind for the group – Planning Action Group: Putting Audlem's Needs 1 Not Investors, (gettit) but there could be, to quote an appropriate musical phrase, many variations on that theme.

Ideally the volunteers we need include members of the superb team that pulled together Audlem's Village Design Statement and Landscape Character Assessment. A pro bono lawyer (although you don't have to like U2) with local planning experience; self evidently a cartoonist as my own effort above shows all too clearly and possibly someone with an enthusiasm for acronyms after the PAGANINI effort; definitely anyone with loads of money and a generous heart; those with good political contacts; and anyone with a creative mind and an ability to speak publicly.

And if the name PAGININI stuck, a cellist might come in very handy, ideally one who can play like Julian Lloyd Webber on ITV's The South Bank Show where Variations on a Theme by Paginini was the show's theme music for nearly forty years.

If you would like to get involved, please email to editor@audlem.org and we will pass the names and any other details to Phil Johnson. It is hoped the group will start meeting very soon and ideas will flow from there.

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