Update on 177 - 179 Mawney Road

Update on Planning Application no. P0986.09 in respect of 177-179, Mawney Road

Over fifty Mawneys Ward residents were in attendance at the Town Hall this week, for the Regulatory Services Committee. They were supported by Graham Price, of the Mawneys Action Team.

The application, to provide a residential care home for twelve residents with learning and or physical disabilities who would require constant supervision, had attracted fierce opposition from Mawneys residents. Over 200 had signed a petition, and there had in addition been 163 letters of objection sent in.

Last week, Graham Price had downloaded the committee report and delivered a hard copy to a local resident who had called a meeting of objectors the weekend before the Regulatory Services meeting to discuss it. Immediately prior to the meeting in The Town Hall, Graham Price spoke at length to Mr Andy Green, a local resident who would be making a two-minute speech as the lead objector on behalf of all the other residents who had objected.

Whilst the officers’ recommendation was to refuse the application, when the item was reached, a brief debate ensued as to whether there was a perceived need for the residential care home. Cllr Misir (Tory, Mawneys Ward) received rapturous applause when he suddenly moved the recommendation for refusal, but he rather spoilt the effect of this, when he appeared to second a supplementary motion from Cllr Tebbutt to defer a decision on the application until a later date, so that a stronger case for refusal could be established. Undoubtedly, many of the local residents present were thoroughly mystified and disappointed, and possibly angered, by this confused development.

Graham Price said after the meeting “In the event, I think that the decision made for deferral was a correct one. I had expressed my view to some of the residents, which was that the report seemed to be unbalanced. Several pages were taken up explaining how the proposal met every criteria and all the policies laid down. And then right at the end there was the recommendation for refusal, on grounds that seemed to be very thin and lightweight. The fear that I had was that a straight refusal on the night, for the reasons stated, could quite probably have led to the refusal being overturned on appeal.”