Champagne, Caviar and Fois Gras…

If champagne, caviar and fois gras was on the Maples menu last Friday, the Project team would have been over there tucking in. We heard our appeal result from the Planning Inspectorate, and it was positive.

It’s possible, for those who aren’t quite such Project anoraks, that not everyone has been having sleepless nights over the refusal of the Welcome Building planning permission. I certainly have, so Blackie (my cat) will now be able to sleep a little more comfortably now that I’m not tossing and turning.

Pleasingly, but also frustratingly, the Inspector’s decision makes it really clear that the Council should not have refused our application in the first place. The Inspector expounds in detail as to the failings of the Council’s process in weighing the benefits against what the officers perceived as disadvantages; he criticises the Council for not substantiating officer opinion with reference to either national or local policy, and he is critical of the use of a ‘pejorative analogy’ in the council’s assessment of the proposals. Very positively, the Inspectors findings mean that we are allowed to claim costs back from the Council as he thought it was unreasonable that we had been put to this expense in the first place. This is good news for FOWA members, it means that some of the time and cost that your membership fees have been paying for will be recouped, and can instead go to other aspects of the development.

Off to do the various emails I need to communicate the news to Trustees, patrons and the like!!

(The decision notices for the decision, and the costs decision – an even better read!, are available to read in full as downloads from the Planning appeal section of the Westonbirt Project section of this website.)