Money and Corruption...
Monday, August 12th, 2013 11:56 amSo the right side of our garden is suddenly much more airy and light than it was. With the exception of our own cherry tree, protected from the vagaries of planning permission and housing development by having the good fortune to be growing six inches further west than his companion, everything down that side has been, or is about to be cut down.
We knew the development was coming of course, but the fact that ‘Flash’ as I have decided to call him, left it close on three years to start work after gaining planning permission, rather lulled us into a false sense of security.
Anyway.
Work has started and to our dismay, at least one of the unprotected trees that was originally to have stayed has gone and one of the protected trees will have gone by the time we get home tonight. There is nothing we can do to stop this as a little research last night shows that last December, with no publicity, Flash sought and obtained permission to remove the protected sycamore. It’s a lovely, big, shady tree right on the edge of his property and I can see no reason why it should be felled, since he will be building some distance from it.
More importantly, I want to know why, on a variation to a set of plans that had been subject to nearly a decade’s worth of opposition and much amendment before final approval was obtained, the council did not feel the need to let anyone know what is happening.
I have emailed the council, our three councillors and the Planning Inspectorate, to see if there is anything we can do to ensure that further events on the land are properly monitored and that Flash does not deviate any further from the agreed plans.
Now that the sycamore and the cherry tree have gone (both were to be kept on the approved version), I would not put it past him to suggest to the planning department that he may as well now have the second storey that they refused originally.
In the meantime, we are looking at the purchase and planting of screening plants and/or trees along that boundary. Although the decking at the bottom is still quite private and secluded (if no longer shady), the patio directly outside the back of the house is now visible and has reciprocal views straight across the lower end of the plot and into gardens some distance away.
Of course Flash, who lives in Woodford in some splendour, by all reports, couldn’t possibly care less. Neither, it seems, could the council.
We knew the development was coming of course, but the fact that ‘Flash’ as I have decided to call him, left it close on three years to start work after gaining planning permission, rather lulled us into a false sense of security.
Anyway.
Work has started and to our dismay, at least one of the unprotected trees that was originally to have stayed has gone and one of the protected trees will have gone by the time we get home tonight. There is nothing we can do to stop this as a little research last night shows that last December, with no publicity, Flash sought and obtained permission to remove the protected sycamore. It’s a lovely, big, shady tree right on the edge of his property and I can see no reason why it should be felled, since he will be building some distance from it.
More importantly, I want to know why, on a variation to a set of plans that had been subject to nearly a decade’s worth of opposition and much amendment before final approval was obtained, the council did not feel the need to let anyone know what is happening.
I have emailed the council, our three councillors and the Planning Inspectorate, to see if there is anything we can do to ensure that further events on the land are properly monitored and that Flash does not deviate any further from the agreed plans.
Now that the sycamore and the cherry tree have gone (both were to be kept on the approved version), I would not put it past him to suggest to the planning department that he may as well now have the second storey that they refused originally.
In the meantime, we are looking at the purchase and planting of screening plants and/or trees along that boundary. Although the decking at the bottom is still quite private and secluded (if no longer shady), the patio directly outside the back of the house is now visible and has reciprocal views straight across the lower end of the plot and into gardens some distance away.
Of course Flash, who lives in Woodford in some splendour, by all reports, couldn’t possibly care less. Neither, it seems, could the council.