Reflections on a planning meeting - bats and farm workers

Yesterday evening (3rd October) I was at an area meeting of Malvern Hills District Council. I wanted to speak in support of a planning application and, as the application I was interested in was last but one on the agenda I sat through most of the meeting.

And very interesting it was too. It covered a range of applications for housing, stabling, a dog sanctuary... There was great variety and each application had been carefully scrutinised against guidelines by officers who made recommendations, many of which the elected councillors followed. Some they chose not to.

I was struck by one comment by a member of the public. Why, he asked, are  "we driven by the system rather than doing the best for the community"? In fairness to the councillors, in that case they went against the officer's advice and (in my view) quite properly put the needs of the community first. 

They did the same in the case I was interested in too. Unanimously they voted to allow a farm worker and his wife to have a chalet/bungalow on a green field site. It's good for the applicants. It's good for the community because if they are able to continue living here. It means the Village Hall has a Secretary, the Church has an Electoral Role Officer, the PCC has a Lay Chair. Rigidly following the officer's advice about the correct process would have denied the community all this. The elected representatives' common sense has been good for the community.

Earlier in the evening an application had been passed with the requirement that bat boxes be installed as bats had been seen on the site and they are a protected species whose habits are under threat. Perhaps we should make farm workers a protected species. Their habitat is under threat too! 

Or perhaps as the chalet is going to be the same sort of size as the stables I see sprouting up round the countryside they should have applied for permission for a stable instead. I seem to remember a story about a family where there was no room for them in the "proper" accommodation and so they had to sleep with the animals!