THAME Town Council is preparing to defend the town’s ground-breaking Neighbourhood Plan, against the supermarket giant, Tesco, which wants to build a store on the outskirts of the town.
The town council has already told the planning authority, South Oxfordshire District Council, that it is against giving planning approval for the plans which include a supermarket, employment building and petrol station on what is currently the DAF site, as the plans do not comply with policies in the TNP.
But at last night’s meeting of the town council, Cllr Mike Dyer said: “The Town Clerk is getting no comfort from what the Planning Officer in the case is saying to him,” which councillors fear, demonstrates that the Officer is of a mind to recommend approval of the plans to SODC’s Planning Committee (it is expected to meet on March 9 to consider the Tesco application).
‘Last chance saloon’
Cllr Paul Cowell told the meeting: “This is ‘the last-chance saloon’ for us. We have to be committed to take this all the way.” Cllr Mike Dyer added: “We spent a lot of money pioneering our Neighbourhood Plan. If we do not defend it against this first, serious threat, I could not show my face on this council.”
After much discussion about how far along the legal road the council would be willing and able to go – particularly how much public money they could ‘reasonably and justifiably’ spend on legal fees etc, the council voted to delegate to a small Working Group, the task of preparing for the eventuality of the Tesco Plans being recommended for approval, or if it is rejected by SODC’s Planning Committee and Tesco goes to appeal, and to research which approach the council should take to whatever situation arises.
Secretary of State to be asked to intervene
In the meantime, the town council voted to ask the Secretary of State to ‘Call in’ the Tesco Plans, taking the decision out of the hands of South Oxfordshire District Council, the timing depending on what recommendation is put to the Planning Committee by their Planning Officer.
The Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, said: “The public would expect us to carry through with this. We are in unknown territory here as no Neighbourhood Plan community has asked for a retail planning application to be called in.”
What does ‘Call in’ a planning decision mean?
‘Calling-in’ of a planning application refers to the power of the Secretary of State to take the decision making power on a particular planning application out of the hands of the local planning authority for his/her own determination. This can be done at any time during the planning application process, up to the point at which the local planning authority actually makes the decision.
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