Primary addressees - Mr Chris Hart -Head of Development Management and Mr Kevin Bishop - Chief Executive DNPA
Dear Mr Hart,
The delegated decision to allow this application was relayed to me by Mrs Helen Cock. Attached. As an interested party who has made cogent objections to this process, I would expect the courtesy of being informed directly.
I am very aware this is not a 'planning' matter, but at a stroke the privacy of my wife and me, and of guests, will be the less when in our north facing rooms, both by day and night. The value of our property has been lessened by an amount that cannot be measured. It puts us in the shoes of the couple who bought this Colt bungalow about 40 years ago. It had lain unused. The retired thatcher and his artistic wife had to fight their way up a drive overwhelmed by brambles and seeded trees. They set to work with their daughter and her partner. They tamed the large garden and enhanced it greatly, including excellent stone masonry. We can put ourselves in the shoes of Mr and Mrs Hodges who saw apartments rising up where there had been a small dwelling with a small commercial garage run by a talented mechanic - Mr Edgecombe I believe. The Hodges planted laurel as a screen. Happily, some layered on the bank derived from excavation for the apartments, and these screen the lower storeys between the properties.
Before I comment further on the process and principle, I respectfully ask for further information. As you know, I do not have to cite the Freedom of Information Statute, all public bodies being bound to respond to proper questions within 20 days. The answers will be immediately at hand and could be given to me within a few days only.
1. Please supply the pdfs of a. my original objection ie that following the first application b. the edited version - my second letter following the 'renewed' application by Mrs Vanessa Kernick. c. the pdfs of the 'comments' (a pejorative title) that came from Mrs Helen Cock and 'building control' or of similar title.
2. Please furnish me, and make available publicly, a declaration made by Mr Ben Gilpin, that he had no general conflict of interest in his appointment as a planning officer in your department, nor in any specific application that he has dealt with, dealing with or might deal with. You know that I learned when searching for the meaning of the letters after his name - MRTPI, that he was part of a private/independent planning consultancy - The Team - CS Planning Ltd
I also learned this represented a membership only, and not a tested qualification like mine - FRCS.
I characterised this as poacher and gamekeeper in the same body. I do not know your house rules, but most members of the public would reject this as being inappropriate - at least. 'Planning' departments are widely despised as being unaccountable so it behoves planning leaders to be utterly transparent and principled.
In this request, I ask no more than the DNPA requires of the Authority members.
3. I have not had time to visit your department to read the files (likely thick) on Haytor Court. I write a good deal and study the cauldron made by the 'west' in the 'Middle East'. The present dangers engage me especially - for mothers and children world wide. (Google david halpin ) Please furnish me with all building control input regarding the initial development that followed the demolition of the dwelling cum garage.
4. I wish to know which senior person, or body, ordered that this contentious application be delegated to an officer, and on what date.
for truth
David Halpin MB BS FRCS
ps http://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/43-articles/planning An example of extraordinary laxity and non-accountability. Mr Nicholas Davies is now on the Planning Inspectorate.
