On Wednesday 28 July the Planning Committee considered an application to build a massive development comprising of seven storey high tower blocks at 265 The Ridgeway. The Committee voted to REFUSE this application.
 
While the Council’s planning officers recommended refusal for the application, concerns were raised that the reasons given by officers were not robust enough. This could have resulted in the officers’ grounds for refusal being easily addressed by the developer in a future application for 265 The Ridgeway.
 
Conservative Councillors led by Cllr Marilyn Ashton, Conservative spokesperson for Planning, proposed refusing the application directly due to the height, density, and scale of the development. If the application had been refused on the original, weaker reasons, this would have left the door open for a similarly inappropriate development to obtain planning permission at 265 The Ridgeway with only a few alterations to the current proposal.
 
As an aside, the Council has control over a covenant on the site which can restrict 265 The Ridgeway to community use only. The Council should have been much clearer to developers that it would enforce this covenant. Had the Council stated this strongly from the outset, it is questionable as to whether the developer would have wasted time applying for planning permission.