Futures Forum: A history of the East Devon Business Forum, part two....... "It mostly represents a number of businesss that councillors and ex-councillors are involved in and those where councillors and ex-councillors own where land which was permitted to be changed from agricultural land to industrial land."
... and in the light of concerns about the transparency of this process
Futures Forum: Scrutinising the East Devon Business Forum...................... "EDDC will not separate the police investigation from the separate issue of interference in the planning process which was one of the causes of the draft local plan being thrown out."
... here is a link to a very full study of that relationship:
Planning in East Devon and the East Devon Business Forum
And here are some excerpts from a summary of that:
The influence of the East Devon Business Forum on the
Local Plan
The aspirations of the EDBF and District Council
Planning Officers have increasingly coincided.
Whilst
the District Council Chief Executive has said (e-mail 23 Oct 2012) that ‘the Council
does not accept for one moment that the EDBF is a lobby group,’ the EDBF itself
has been very clear about the relationship between the two bodies:
‘Members
of the Business Forum often underestimated its influence on policy at EDDC; an
example was for the need for more employment land in the District.’ (EDBF
Minutes 11 Dec 2008)
One of the primary purposes of the EDBF has been to
influence the District Council in matters of planning policy.
The
EDBF has sought to persuade the council to relax planning controls for large developers
and to decrease the protection for greenfield and AONB areas. For example, the
EDBF complained in 2011 that only 1% of East Devon was developed. (EDBF minutes
13 Oct 2011)
Planning
and development issues have dominated the agendas of EDBF meetings (referred to
in 34 out of 40 meetings since 2007) with on one occasion the question being
raised as to whether other matters such as education and training could be discussed.
(EDBF Minutes 10 Apr 2008)
The
EDBF is dominated by larger businesses and property developers, with smaller
businesses dependent on town centre commerce and quality tourism fearing that
excessive expansion of business parks in greenfield sites would damage their
interests. For example, the former Chairman of Axminster Chamber of Commerce
and Industry has complained that he felt unwelcome at EDBF meetings (Comment 10
at Cllr Claire Wright’s blog: 26 Jul 2012)
The EDBF enjoys a privileged status within the
District Council, having been recommended as a planning consultee for the
District Council since 2007.
The
EDBF has convinced the District Council of the need to reduce planning restrictions
generally, as of 2007. Following research by the EDBF, the District Council’s
TAFF on Employment Land challenged the conclusions of the independent Atkins
Report. The Chairman of the EDBF subsequently led the debate at the Corporate
Overview Committee (22 Nov 2007), securing the agreement that planning policy
on employment land should be changed forthwith, due to an ‘undersupply’ in East
Devon, despite the Atkins Report’s evidence to the contrary.
The
consequences of this policy change are clear, in that the Corporate Overview Committee
(23 Oct 2008) confirmed the ‘urgent need’ for more ‘employment land’,
recommending Exeter Airport, Greendale Barton and Hill Barton Business Parks
for expansion (all of whom are EDBF members). Moreover, as of 2008, planning
applications from EDBF members for large extensions to their industrial estates
have been approved.
The
EDBF has also persuaded the District Council to increase the amount of ‘employment
land’ specified in the strategic Draft Local Plan: ‘Members noted that the work
the Business Forum had done on the Atkins Report had made an enormous
difference to the final report prepared by the Employment Land Issues TAFF.
This had been accepted by the Executive Board. The report was now being used by
the Development Control Committee as a base when considering planning
applications for employment land.’ (EDBF Minutes 31 Jan 2008)
The
question therefore remains as to whose interests are being furthered in the
formation and implementation of planning policy by District Councillors and
Officers.
The influence of the East Devon Business Forum on the Local Plan
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