Quote Originally Posted by mickd1961 View Post
Try getting a planning decision from Dudley Council.

Their motto is.....”The answer is no....what was your question?

A dreadful and corrupt bunch to deal with.

I wanted to get planning on a brownfield site I owned for six much needed starter homes in a low income area.

I put in a detailed plan and jumped every hurdle required and got turned down after spending around £15k getting to that point.

I went to appeal with my architect who was a top bloke.

I did the speaking.....three minutes on the timer before the buzzer went off!

It became apparent that the neighbour who had opposed my application was on first name terms with the council leader and at least one other person on the seven person committee ����

A flagrant breach of the rules as anyone with a relationship or friendship with applicant or complainer is supposed to stand down.

An elderly man on the committee was aghast at this and tore a strip off these other two members and registered his disgust.

I think it was him speaking up that swung it my way by 4 to 3 votes.

Dudley are a disgrace,nobody in our area has a good word for them.
I had an experience from the other side of the fence where I lived previously. There was a proposal to build a Social Club in the village to serve the nearby town. It would have been a bit of a nuisance for me but for some of my neighbours horrendous. A councillor of the planning committee had an interest but stood down. Did that stop him lobbying his mates? What do you think?

From memory it was a 2 minute rule 2 speakers only from memory. What chance a non professional of influencing a group that already made their minds up?

We were however cheered by the fact the Town Councillor for our ward met with us and said he would vote against. I was chatting to an ex councillor mate from another town and told him how buoyed we were that we had this guy's support. He actually laughed out loud and explained. Let's say their are 9 others on the panel and 7 others have already agreed beforehand to vote for. It then of course because becomes totally irrelevant which way he votes. And this is exactly what happened. I don't want to evben think about how much of this type of duplicity goes on at all levels.

Such a c0ck up was made of the funding that 10 years later not a brick has been laid.