Clwyd West MP, David Jones, is urging Conwy County Borough Council to extend the time allowed for objections to its controversial Local Development Plan (“LDP”).
Conwy is allowing six weeks, ending on 26 April, for residents to make representations on the LDP. Representations have to be made on a prescribed form that requires objectors to set out highly technical grounds for opposing the LDP’s proposals in terms of “tests of soundness”.
David Jones said:
“I am very concerned indeed that the relatively small window of time allowed for objectors to make representations will deter many local people from having their say. This is a busy time of year, with many residents occupied in looking after children during their Easter holidays. It is hard for many people to find time to complete the forms.
“The forms themselves are of mind-boggling complexity. They require objectors to comment on such technical issues as whether or not the LDP complies with the Wales Spatial Plan or whether ‘sets out a coherent strategy from which its policies and allocations logically flow’. Professional town planners have told me that they themselves find it difficult to complete the forms.
“I urge Conwy to grant an extension of time, as it did two years ago, for objectors to comment on the LDP. Furthermore, people should be allowed to make objections informally and not necessarily on the prescribed form.
“At a meeting I attended in Llysfaen earlier this week, over 300 residents turned up and almost unanimously voted on a show of hands that they were opposed to the LDP’s proposals for their village. It is right that those people and others like them should have full opportunity to comment on the LDP without having obstacles in terms of time or bureaucracy put in their way.
“To deny them a reasonable chance to have their voices heard would be a denial of democracy.”
