The Planners Are Coming S01E07

britain is a green and pleasant land but for how long we now get into a situation where any site's worth putting a planning application in for after the biggest shake-up of the planning system in 40 years the race is on to get britain building if i have a house here i'm thinking about building a sort of berlin wall it's got to be at least six feet high so constructors are making plans whoever designed that needs to be shot objectors are making noises bloody enough of it with what we got in this town for councillors they're putting up and neighbors are going to war we always want our battles as a family we'll win this one in the firing line shaping the country of the future are britain's plans so nothing happens in the hall yeah no no yes no yes well thank you for letting us visit and then we'll see you on thursday another british planning cock-up room most planners spend their days dealing with homeowners and housing developers [Music] but every now and then an application arrives that's a little out of the ordinary planner judith gordon is near the villages of lostok green and latch dennis in cheshire this is what the proposed site layout entails and we're standing round about here and then this would be the building itself it would be similar size really to a bungalow [Applause] it may look like a detached house with a lot of parking spaces and a large chimney but it is in fact a crematorium we haven't dealt with a new private crematorium before so it's a process of learning for everybody involved slow grass isn't it it's really long radius might have been some of my colleagues have said i wish i was dealing with that i think they'd maybe like to accompany on certainly visits to crematoriums and see what really goes on and just fell some of the myths that people have [Music] last year planners received just a handful of applications to build private crematoria three of those were from father and son howard and jameson hodgson they're hoping to build their next crematorium in cheshire but their flagship development is in south wales we wanted people to feel that it was professional that it was comfortable that it was like a five-star hotel but at the same time it wasn't move curtains and and very victorian depressing death but it was somber but yet still tastefully done and i think you know we've achieved that these are very modern colors but at the same time they are restrained they're not jazzy [Music] most crematoria are council owned the hodgsons have spotted a gap in the market and charge upwards of 500 pounds for services at their memorial parks [Music] the public's biggest single complaint would definitely be that they're in a conveyor belt and so the whole thing is designed so they won't see anybody else out there they won't hear anybody else behind them here they will exit over there from a different way and we have 45 minute times whereas the usual is can be in a very busy criminal 20 more usually probably 30. i've grown up in this business i remember when i was very young my sister and i had easily the fastest ledges because they were made of coffin boards howard sold his undertaker business for seven million pounds private crematoria are his latest venture and he spent nearly a hundred thousand pounds on the application in cheshire the reason that we would want to build it is because it's needed we're looking to service in the region of 140 000 people so it is there for community benefit it's also worth remembering that any one of these that's built by us will cost something between 3.5 to 4 million pounds that's a big investment and we have to know that there is a need if it's not going to do a thousand cremations a year then it's not going to give us our money back crematoria have to be at least 200 yards from neighboring buildings which is why memorial have picked the cheshire site be quite small in terms of the the general landscape but you need to consider what kind of impact that's going to have on this you know it's rural in nature it's virgin agricultural land this kind of application is something that's going to provoke a response [Music] the locals seem to be fairly anti [Music] the proposed site lies on a b road half a mile between the two villages the locals have wasted no time putting pen to paper among them national newspaper cartoonist bill stott where the crematorium is going to be it's a lovely meadow it's really nice it's full of that green stuff called grass i'd far rather stayed like that i just feel sad that the developers a company from down south can come up here and bulldoze in our village not knowing anything about it the people the place we have a farm a farm is what we have it's farm land what we don't want is a damn great chimney and crematorium ruining a fantastic piece of cheshire countryside one of their big worries is the amount of speeding traffic the crematorium could bring through the villages here we go look at the speed of this one this is not an infrequent occurrence this is regular this is a rural rural lane there will be probably seven funerals a day that's 14 trips if you can going home again well going home again minus one in lancashire self-made millionaire colin barrell is working on his current project three new homes in oldham i'm 72. i'm still going and i get up between six and a half bus every morning and i might not go in for me too till 10 o'clock at night that's true though right now collins made a fortune buying up derelict properties and selling them on if you want something you've got to work for it nobody will give you now although this country seems to give everybody something for now i shouldn't say that for his latest project he's teamed up with his friend kitchen entrepreneur mark harrington and architect andy woodward they want to build five log cabins as holiday homes on land colin owns in the village of bertel on the outskirts of rochdale they're a kind of a traditional log cabin a traditional log home two bedrooms a kitchen a bathroom and a living area it's not going to look like your traditional caravan site or anything like that it fits in with the rural aspect it's very low impact the main reason we're going for log cabins is because we think it's in keeping with the area the footpaths are going to be built from something like chippings or or bark that will allow water to go through and so they won't affect the trees or anything we just wanted to put together a quality development it's not which we think we've done yeah and if you're not going to get planning approval for this here you're not going to get a planning approval for it anywhere at all they hope to rent the cabins out and encourage tourism in rochdale the rochdale tourist board they've been very very excited because they know that there's a lack of of quality dwellings for tourists on this side of the town yeah well it's a nice place for the millionaire even here yeah you know on the working man as well i think the people around you'd be quite proud of it actually this is your dog julie isn't it what's he called she maisie you come to help in the woodland but the villagers are already proud of bertle in the past they've fought off plans for a quarry and have created an action group to protect the look of the village we are an action group yes sometimes we don't feel very active in the pub when we're having a meeting but yes we we are an action group we act and we react to things depends what they are when they saw the plans for the log cabins they reacted we don't want the log cabins because it's inappropriate development on the green belt and it's just on the edge of the conservation area there are more reasons but those are the main ones although i'm an incomer i've lived here for 42 years and you know we have tried very hard to preserve it as you can see it is a lovely spot it's got a lot of character we're trying to keep vertical well beautiful right i think that's full the bertle trust has written to the planning department asking for the cabins to be refused about half of them people won't live they're all commodities anyway i bet they weren't the original ones what worked in the mills they think they're so much special marinas every time you go and build something people think oh what's going on bull they wouldn't be in their houses the best outcome for bertel would be that it's refused keep bertle green and no more built up than it is already we sound like real nimbies can't we don't mean to we just want bertle to be beautiful don't worry as beautiful as it can be it'll be down to rochdale planner rebecca coley to decide if the cabins can go ahead we do have quite a lot of tourism and we do get a lot of walkers cyclists and horse riders around the various trails so there is a recognised need for tourism accommodation and we need to be convinced that it that it is the right sort of development [Music] if people are very protective over changes to the area they live in they're equally passionate about any threats to the wildlife in their own back gardens [Music] usually throw out just three or four handfuls of these birds nuts seems to keep them happy in this suburban corner of cheltenham there's one family that's particularly popular with the neighbours this is for their supper tonight that's fish ham peanuts and cat food but when i do them bread rolls they go wild can i have a quick peep out in case you see quite often we'll see the security light next door come on then you'll hear rustling in the bushes and they'll come it's quarter to ten and we have a badger there are around 20 badgers living in a set on the land at the end of the gardens last year we had 11 badgers and two foxes in the drive at one time that's a sandwich from next door it's really good really good as long as they stay off my lawn three weeks ago developers submitted plans to build on the land where the badgers live i think that if the planned development goes ahead there's bound to be an impact on the wildlife that will be a shame [Music] new building land in cheltenham is so hard to find the developers have persuaded some homeowners to sell parts of their back gardens a strategy known as garden grabbing planner rob lindsey is dealing with the housing application that could affect the badger sets it's a proposal to put up nine detached houses on a site which has been assembled from rear gardens developers are having to look at several different sites different ownerships and assemble them into one development site [Music] even though their gardens the land is overgrown [Music] which makes it the ideal home for badgers oh look feeding bowl development near badges has to take place respecting the badges and their habits particularly if they're foraging habits because they have a main set they forage from that they have outlying sets and there are two or three of those on this site so that's one of the major constraints construction is sometimes allowed near to badgers but their sets are protected any harm to the animals can result in fines of up to five thousand pounds and a possible prison sentence there is scope for development as long as the proper procedures are put in place for keeping the main badges set active and allowing the badges their normal foraging it's a difficult balance some people living nearby don't want any disruption and have written in to object to the housing plans well i love them if i saw anybody doing anything wrong i'd be very very cross [Music] when the wildlife reports come in the planners will decide whether the badgers must make way for the new housing in cheshire objectors to the proposed crematorium are getting organized they formed a committee and even appointed a pr officer to fight against developers memoria dress shop owner rosemarie teeth i put a little newsletter for the verges to look at and i did some little scenarios about what would happen if a child's crossing the road and there's an accident because this you know it's not looked both ways and what would happen if um you know you can't sell your house for three years the questions that children are going to be asked why is that black car driving so slowly mummy what's in that box in the back where are they're going what are they going to be doing with it down there why has it got flowers on it you know will i do that with my hamster when he dies you know these sort of things that children are going to be asking these questions and the parents have got to have the answers for them memoria have thrust death on our children without any option it's life-changing for the villagers it completely changes a quiet rural village into we don't like we don't like to think about what in their mind's eye when they know there's going to be a crematorium they don't see this they see black smoke peering out of these brick chimneys that are going to destroy their property values just not true it's the big taboo subject we're frightened of death that's why we either have to treat it like dracula or treat it as if it's a comedy this will be interesting planet judith gordon is visiting the local council run crematorium in warrington she'll make a recommendation on memorial's proposal but she needs to understand the likely environmental impact of a new crematorium in cheshire there seems to be a lot of myths about crematoriums and about what happens to bodies and whose remains you get and so on so i think it's really important to understand the complexity of the service that's paying that provided now the minister yes he will then in a moment make his way to the store here as we said before yes are they like the archers then each year the crematorium handles 2 000 services on average you're looking about 18 minutes proclamation okay warrington crematorium is more than twice the size of the one proposed in cheshire as well as considering traffic and landscape judith has to look at the possible impact of the incinerator on the atmosphere this is the operational side of things okay on completion of the creation process and the remains will then drop down into here okay once they're cooled sufficiently the remaining taper from here to the transfer cabinet which is this here this is a magnet that you'll gently run through the remains and that magnet will then kind of extract any metal objects any pins okay so you'll have things like kneecaps or hip joints and things like that which will come out and haul you will physically see those okay okay this feels very sort of clinical i think to actually follow the process it's dispelled a lot of myths [Music] it's not a kind of upsetting thing at all you couldn't actually identify that there had been a body in there or that it was the remains of a body i always wanted to be buried it was my personal theory that i came into this world with two arms and two legs and a head and i go out want to go out the same way but now after seeing this process his dignity in this these this is cleanliness in this you know there's you know you can take somebody away so i'm now beginning to rethink this and thinking well perhaps cremation is the way forward you know judith has eight weeks to make her recommendation but she won't have the final say that'll be down to the eleven elected members of cheshire west's planning committee in the village of bertel near rochdale there's an application to build four log cabins on green belt land colin burrell and his friend mark harrington are off to see what the log cabins could look like if they get permission [Music] oh it's beautiful setting now anybody that says to do all right let's call it there's something wrong with these 11 cabins near bradford and yorkshire are rented out to holidaymakers for up to 170 pounds a night wipe your feet look at that so there you go yeah very nice i'd recommend it for an holiday here a little uh wood burning store there in the corner oh i'll be a sweetheart yeah hey the castle this is very nice very nice oh you've got a thing [Music] if the log cabins are built in bertal they will stand on wooden stilts and won't need foundations even so the locals don't want any development on the green belt the people who don't want us to do this in bertal have you brought them over here and said fire a coach himself just look at this no tell me you don't want it i tell you it's not going to be nice or whatever i don't i can't fold some back in bertal planner rebecca coley needs to work out if the cabins would harm the trees and threaten the green belt we have a tourism officer and he has written a letter saying that he would support log cabins in this part of the borough but that doesn't outweigh the fact that it's in the green belt there are there are other sites there are fundamentally two issues here there's the principle of the development in the green belt is it appropriate or inappropriate and then there's the issue of the protected trees which would be the case whether this site was in the green belt or not i find it very difficult to comprehend how they're going to get a log cabin on here without some impact on that tree the roots the roots are going to be out at least here if not further if you dig down and hit tree roots then you damage those trees and those trees are likely to die rebecca will need to see evidence that colin and mark can deliver the cabins without damaging the environment there you go mr brothers take a seat sir take a seat enjoy oh yeah it's just beefed me up even more and i'm seeing this i really want to do it now i should we should have brought a six-pack column no i'm not though i had enough unsightly did you oh my god it isn't a particularly well thought out scheme i don't think so there's a lot of detail which just hasn't doesn't seem to have been thought about or has been thought about and they know that they would have a detrimental impact so they're trying to not mention it and hope that we don't notice i always notice don't get very much past me hello could i speak to rebecca please yes when colin and mark read rebecca's concerns they decide on a conference call there's no trees coming down at all not at any point but there would be no way of actually getting construction vehicles or actually getting the log cabins into the site yeah we weren't really anticipating putting the vehicles on the site just delivering the materials and they would be carried by the workers it all comes in pieces you say it doesn't come in sections but how would we control that we can't be there to prevent your workers coming in and taking those trees out and damage to those trees and there's other issues with with the ground levels and drainage and bid storage and hard cloth landscaping yeah um if you were to resubmit the application of the necessary information you may well be able to address those risks thanks very much rebecca thank you bye she's telling him as a lamb and saying oh yes but you can't do this you can't we can't come back and watch the trees we can't do that what a load of bun come i just got the impressions that she didn't want it colin and mark have an opportunity to submit more evidence to convince rebecca before she makes a final decision on the log cabins the planning process can be frustrating but the consequences of ignoring it can be life changing on the banks of the river d in cheshire sits heron lodge home to peter johnson we get prepared for the evening get our logs in get our fire on or out the gin and tonic 73 year old peter bought his retirement home near fondant 13 years ago it was built in the late 19th century and was a holiday home until he set about extending it and converting it for permanent use this part of it was the original part up to the uh brick pier that you see over on the left this was the original old cottage it ticked all the boxes as they say today it it gave me a home in the country it wasn't expensive it needed a lot of work so i could put my stamp on it that was my retirement home that's why i chose it but peter always knew that heron lodge wasn't perfect the problems with the river really is that it will come over its bank and just literally flood the whole of the area you would not believe the volume of water that empties out onto this floodplain peter had a solution to the flooding he got permission to use jacks to raise his house six feet lifting it out of the floodplain the cottage was at the same level as the lane out there we dragged our sj's underneath the building four of them sat them on jacks and literally jacked the old girl up an inch at a time probably a little bit crackers i think my kids would probably have me locked up for taking the whole project on in the first place [Music] peter had permission to raise the house on jacks but filling in the land underneath it and creating a small hill around the house needs separate permission and peter has had it refused now the council's planning enforcement team are involved i like the idea of a way of living next to a river and living a sort of wind in the willows type lifestyle but it would certainly make life very very difficult i think having to put up with regular floods every year [Music] the council has ordered the land around heron lodge to be restored to its original level the case is due to go to court but neil wants to see if anything can be done he has tried to gain planning permission for numerous works carried out on the property all of which have failed um the only one that he's been granted permission for was raising the actual house itself and it's just not an appropriate development within a flood plain unfortunately the water has to go somewhere and if you displace water from a flood plain then in theory someone else can get flooded as a result of that has no permanent neighbors but for the council it's a point of principle hi neil castledon hi neil hi there hello peter johnson hello good to meet you i'm probably wrong side of 70 to be living right out in the country in isolation but i don't want to give it up too much blood sweat and tears i can certainly understand from both angles why it's got to this situation so i can appreciate why the works were carried out and i can also appreciate why the council might have felt that they they had to take some kind of action um i suppose the question now is is how it gets resolved yeah peter's refusing to remove the raised earth that surrounds the house so there's nothing neil can do to prevent court action i mean in many ways it's out of the planning department's hands now because they've obtained an injunction because it's yes it's headed off into the courts [Music] it is sad because you don't really want to see anyone getting into this level of trouble but i think he did go into it no nice he did get advice and he took the decision that he was going to do something different i have an english bulldog i just hate bureaucracy and i hate being told what i can do with my own property the englishman's home is supposed to be his castle having ignored the planners peter's fate lies in the courts and he could lose heron lodge if the council insists on recovering their legal costs my whole life is poured into this project into this building and this home after fighting the council for 12 years all the money that i got that's all gone i've got to this time in my life and i've been licked by a bunch of bureaucrats which i never thought i'd ever happen to me i could be homeless i'd certainly be penniless they'll have to take it from me yeah [Music] yeah welcome to badger towers and if you follow me i'll give you a little tour around we can start with the sitting room in cheltenham plans to build nine houses on the site of a badger set have not gone down well with the neighbors but they've found someone to lead their protest one of our badgers sitting down here which is uncle ted and then there's a granddad badger who's an antique in fact and fritz dressed in his german lederhosen peter christensen has run badger towers bnb for the last 13 years that is mr badger it's right next door to the development site we have a link to the badges in a way because of the name of course and we are very fond of the badges and of the wildlife in this area the badgers have been there for a long time they are a protected species and therefore should be treated with respect mr badger will fight it to the end [Music] but since the objections were lodged peter and the other neighbours have started to suspect foul deeds [Music] you can see across there there's a bit of overgrown land there and the badger sets are in there and so it's difficult to keep an eye on what's happening to the badges of course because people can interfere with them without anybody easily finding out [Music] white smoke has been seen rising above the badger set there was an attempt i understand that somebody was trying to smoke them out and the police were called and unblocked the set they didn't actually find any individuals so you can't really point your finger anybody but they did come and unblock it apparently these suspicions come as no surprise to the developers agent simon firkins you can see here that one of the existing homeowners has been clearing hedge trimmings and things out and having a bonfire on their own site which they're perfectly entitled to do and that could be a very very simple explanation for the smoke that some of the local residents say they've seen coming from the site [Music] simon's job is to make sure the nine houses get permission and the developers don't fall foul of wildlife laws okay well here we are in a different part of the site you can't really see very much because it's so overgrown but basically the the main area of badger activity is in that part of the site just there and we've employed a specialist ecologist to demonstrate as part of the application that we're not going to hopefully do the badges any harm at all and what we've got on the plans is a badger exclusion zone the main set is within this zone here and so what's shown by this blue dotted line is basically an exclusion zone where we can't develop in or even have any private garden areas in that is the zone that's going to be set aside for badges to use as they wish obviously it's in my clients best interests to deal with the badges on site in absolutely the correct and proper way i don't think they care i think what they're doing in this particular plan is paying lip service to the badger population and nothing more the amended layout and provision of a construction-free badger zone means the planners are happy so the houses can go ahead you've got to listen to what the experts on wildlife have to say about it and we've had a submitted scheme which says that the badges can be accommodated with the development so i think you've got to be objective and set aside the emotional side of fury creatures but there are specific regulations that cover disturbance of protected species habitat and this scheme complies with that but the number of objections means this application won't be decided by rob and the planners alone it'll go before a committee where the elected councillors will decide [Music] in cheshire the application to build a private crematorium is about to be considered by the planning committee members among them retired farmer norman wright who lives with his wife june six miles from the proposed site it can be very busy but um it's worth it it seems worth it you feel as if it's worth doing it don't you worthwhile you never get any thanks but you don't expect any thanks i think he's a very good counselor i like helping people and trying to sort their problems out don't we yes yeah norman's been on the planning committee for 10 years including a spell as chairman we have to read the reports and you have to make that decision which is very hard sometimes no mistakes the crematorium plans are controversial but norman and the committee would have the officer's advice to guide them planner judith gordon has made her recommendation i have recommended approval of the application we've had to consider all the details of the application the impact on highways particularly and also whether it's appropriate to put a crematorium on a greenfield site and there is a need for a new crematoria in that particular part of the borough and the need should override any policy objection that there is about it being on a greenfield site in the village judith's report is a setback for the objectors disappointed really very disappointed there was one phrase that she quoted which i noted down she said it will not cause unacceptable harm so therefore the corollary of that is it will cause acceptable harm and i do i just feel disappointed but we still it's the counselors that's going to make the decisions i mean we haven't lost [Music] before they vote on the private crematorium the committee visit the site with a member of the planning team the site's actually on the the other side of this hedgerow now the entrance involves the removal of 20 meters of hedgerow but no none of the trees would actually come out and actually it's on there a good straight stretcher road so as vehicles turn in and out there's a good view from both there is there is good visibility in both directions it certainly meets the standards for visibility [Music] we believe that we have the planning arguments at this site to go ahead which is why we're here we are very careful to make sure that we when we have chosen a site that it will comply with all of the things that we know it needs to comply with i mean you could say that a planning application will cost a hundred thousand pounds so i mean if you lose one you've lost a hundred thousand pounds but support from the planning officer is no guarantee the application will succeed councillors can weigh up all opinions put before them you can't make a decision you've got to listen to all the arguments before you make a decision it's like being on a jury where in fact you would not expect the jurors to have come to a decision before they've all heard all the evidence i've been asked by local residents to take you up and drive through lost green and see the access don't break our village that's why they want us to come down here yes to see this sign no crematorium but you can understand it's a lot more traffic i mean one has to sympathize even if one doesn't always agree when the bus returns to the council offices the villagers will find out if their protests have struck a cord and memoria will find out if it's a hundred thousand pounds well spent you just have to wait and that's probably the hardest bit [Music] at least it isn't a wind farm in bertal near rochdale a decision has been made on the application to build four log cabins on the green belt planner rebecca coley has posted the decision online for applicants mark harrington and colin burrell to read this i would expect yes because it's making the area better whatever anybody said it is going to make the area better and it looked decision there's a decision right that's the little jack i want right okay uh on the head in there russell council metropolitan but council refusal of planning permission so they have refused it the reasons right the site lies within the greater manchester greenbelt where the erection of new buildings is inappropriate development it's not green built it's next to a pub it's like the center of the village people object no matter what you tell them they can object and they will object the applicant hasn't demonstrated that the works could proceed without having to lose some of those trees you're not we're going to get trees no but there's roots yeah but that's foods that's got more trees on my land than this got there there are eight reasons for refusal i said it is a lot [Applause] normally no one would only be one or two but there are a lot of issues with this site they've taken a chance and it's not worked out clearly it's something which can't be supported in the green belt there was only ever going to be one conclusion really for this one in bertal it's welcome news for patricia sullivan leader of the group opposing development in the village fantastic i'm so happy really happy i need to go for a drink very soon what time is it it's early in cheshire the river d has burst its banks for the ninth time in 12 months peter johnson's home is now surrounded by flood water and he's using his boat and waders to get to and from heron lodge you need the fridge in the freezer and the cupboard stocked up plenty of gin and tonic in and and live with it you know if it takes three or four days a year of a little bit of difficulty with a boat and it's worth it to live out in a place like this despite the flood the house is high and dry and that's the problem peter had permission to raise the house on jax but he's been told to remove the soil that he banked up around it he ignored enforcement notices telling him to restore the land to its previous levels hello justin are you all right if the levels were restored the house would be left on stilts yeah if you comply with the enforcement notices you'll finish up with an uninhabitable dwelling that would be totally wrecked i don't think there's any common sense in terms of making a compromise with chester council now the council also wants 50 000 pounds to cover enforcement action and legal costs it's money peter says he hasn't got so they're considering seizing his home it is absolutely stupid and all i've done is protected my home from flooding huh does it make any sense none of it makes any sense british justice huh there you go say lovey [Music] peter's feud with chester council has been going on for 13 years but it could be about to end it's escalated and escalated over the years because he's maintained his unwillingness to do anything to mitigate the harm that he's caused and and similarly the council has been unwilling to let the matter drop there will have to be some kind of resolution one way or another it's really just whether that involves his cooperation or otherwise when the flood waters subside peter's off to the civil courts to see if he can reach a settlement with the council's lawyers for peter it's about much more than just planning it's an english trait isn't it to triumph against adversity i mean scott to the antarctic hunt up the himalayas you know there's so much of english heritage and english history based in people triumphing against adversity if i triumph against chester i don't think i will but i'm going to do my darndest to get these blighters on the hook and and expose them for what they are evil bunch of bureaucrats [Music] the rules are there for a reason and the enforcement notices were held by inspectors that they've also been through court and judges have agreed with with the stance that the council has taken so we're completely correct in in the approach to this particular case we can't just let matters drop because they become complicated or long-winded we don't like serving notices and we don't like sending the bulldozers in but we have to have teeth the court hearing takes 40 minutes peter is told by the judge to enter arbitration with the council and find a way to repay the money and restore the ground around heron lodge [Music] the judge the order there should be in the first an attempt to negotiate a settlement to the master so we can get around the table and talk hopefully this will be the start of the end if that's the right phrase i don't know i'm hoping so one way or another sooner rather than later mr johnson is going to have to comply hopefully we can do that through cooperation and negotiation but if that's not possible then yes we will have to consider perhaps more more drastic options for achieving compliance but it will have to happen [Music] in cheltenham the planning committee has arrived at the site of the badger set where developers want to build nine houses uh tend to be quite a challenge to visualize through this lot isn't it the plot is unused land at the end of people's gardens there's a set there and a set here that x marks a set these are outlier sets this is the main set and it's the main set that will be kept the land may be overgrown but it's an ideal site for the family of badgers that make regular trips into their neighbor's gardens they're going to close one of those two sets and then reopen that one and this one remains open so this yes absolutely this is this is badger legislation or um wildlife legislation very very strict procedure we've got six members of the planning committee come through and some of the other neighbors regularly feed the badgers he's hoping videos of the badgers will persuade the councillors to veto the housing plans can i break ranks and ask what you feed them on oh just some birds nuts we just try a few because we threw out food for the birds the planning officers support the scheme but the final decision will be made by the 11 elected councillors well i'm pleased that the sets are going to be protected and i'm sure the badges are i've only got i'm torn two ways i have to say it was so difficult to see anything there and it it's a natural wilderness and anything you do there is going to um disturb the balance of the of the wildlife fair in all honesty i'm heavily into animal protection first and foremost but opponents of the developers also claim the scheme will affect traffic and involve the loss of green space but it's the badgers that are their main concern well i've been doing as much research as i can in relation to which areas this application fails to satisfy and it seems to me there are quite a few i believe in justice and democracy and fairness uh the council turned down an application somewhat similar to this one four years ago i can see no reason why they shouldn't do it again [Music] with a speech prepared peter will present his arguments to the members of the planning committee they will have the final say on the development thank you members i ask mr peter christians to speak in objection does this thing turn on thank you have three minutes mr christian the plot has an active badger set and the measures in the proposed plan for protecting badges do not appear sufficient there are many other species of wildlife present on the site and also traffic and health and safety are further serious issues we therefore urge the committee to refuse this application thank you thank you very much i'll now ask mr simon perkins to speak in support of the application thank you chairman members this proposal does not result in undue harm to onsite ecology neighbouring immunity highway safety or the character of the locality much of the site is unkempt and it is good to make use of these sites within the town rather than building on greenfield sites elsewhere i'm afraid i can't see that there's any justifiable reason for refusing consent and i therefore ask you to support the recommendation and grant permission thank you for your time thank you very much i'll ask councillor maclean to address us you have fun the local councillor has decided to speak against the development on the grounds that gardens should not be taken for housing i mean i've heard it just said that by permitting these garden grab developments this one in particular we will somehow reduce the pressure of new housing numbers i mean that is simply clearly demonstrably palpably rubbish all it will guarantee is the sacrifice of our few remaining urban green heartlands if this development goes ahead it will be irrevocably lost but before the vote the meeting is postponed for more environmental impact reports that is deferred to get further advice from the environment agency thank you [Music] we may not like it we may not think it's the best development in the world but there isn't a valid reason to turn it down as i can see the reports show no evidence of further harm so when everyone returns it's straight down to the vote all those in favor of permit that is unanimous thank you [Music] the plans are passed unanimously the gardens are gone the badgers will lose some of their sets but they will be protected in law they didn't seem to be interested in the wildlife aspect at all you know we have very few green spaces and just to ignore that it seems to me quite shocking i was happy with the badges will coexist with the development i think the ecological appraisal demonstrated that very clearly i think that one has been resolved when he could turn on that corner my god it just looked at his funeral yeah i just said it's the day of judgment in latch dennis and lowstock green well we think we should give them a taste of what's to come for us [Music] the villagers are dressing in black to attend the planning committee meeting that will decide whether to build a private crematorium in a nearby field thank you so much bless you for that now we're on the way i would say more boyd than we were in the last week we just have to go with it and see what happens if common sense prevails it will be turned down [Music] but as soon as they arrive at winsford council chamber they run into a problem we were coming with a 57 seater bus with all our supporters who've supported us through thick and thin over the last six months and now we've just been told they can't go in we're told that there's only room for five five people months and months of hard work has gone into this absolutely ridiculous we need to have the presence there to show the councillors what we're supporting and with so many protesters council staff change the order of the meeting and create enough room for the villagers to make their presence felt so she said open doors come in it's extremely difficult for local people they very much want to convince and that they are right and the decisions should be made according to their views judith has recommended the plans be approved but the councillors have the power to go against her opinion i think they feel that a committee may be more democratic because they have elected counsellors to represent them therefore they feel that the councillors should take account of their views and that should perhaps sometimes override the objectiveness of planning policy uh welcome you all to this meeting of the cheshire western chester strategic planning committee first the objectors get their chance planning officer's report suggests this development will not cause unacceptable harm by definition this means it will cause acceptable harm how can anyone truly judge what is acceptable harm other than the village residents themselves we are not against change in our locality but it has to be changed for the benefit of the local community rather than an out of area developer this is about a development to which most residents strongly object we hope that you agree with us and reject this application thank you for listening thank you very much indeed next it's the turn of developers memoria they've spent over a hundred thousand pounds on the application past experience has taught us that this level of opposition is not uncommon given the perception of crematoria development in this country however in all of our previous applications if we've been given the right to go ahead we've never received one letter of objection from the local community quite the opposite in fact with our beautiful gardens and landscaping we found that we've become a source of pride for the local area there'll be no smoke no smell and the visual impact with the landscaping plan will be minimal but the benefit to the wider community will be significant thank you thank you very much right i opened it up to debate from committee members now it's down to the councillors to make up their minds thank you chairman they need to balance the planner's recommendation with the views of the villages it's a very emotive and emotional issue this because it's people's lives and it's people's villages to be honest i've looked really carefully at this application and i can't find a really good planning reason for rejecting this application chairman i've just missed my case of that there are not sufficient good reasons to overturn policy and lose good agricultural land this is not a service that can only be met at that site therefore i move that we refuse this application thank you after an hour's debate the council is vote on a proposal to refuse the application on the grounds that it's inappropriate on agricultural land right it's been proposed and seconded that this application be refused all those in favor please show five six seven seven check against two seven two so the application is refused for the reasons power it's disappointing very disappointing uh we obviously on the back of a very strong planning report we're expecting to for the committee to support that we will have to have another look and if that leads us to an appeal then we will have to go down that road that's the best outcome ever and i know it'll probably be an appeal but we'll be ready for them i thought the right decision was made on this occasion i think the access is not very good and i think they need to come back with some modifications to the planning application news of the victory soon reaches the village that's like crew versus manchester united crew win 7-2 [Music] if you want to influence the council dress up in black [Applause] [Music] hedgehog flat next time on the planners the first one will be in this field it starts there and it runs in a straight line of four parallel to the railway line a former new age traveler's dream for a greener future is a castle owner's nightmare i wake up in the night screaming my head off and my mother says what's the matter wind turbines i say double the trouble for the businessman who wants to extend his cafe we think they've chosen to lose the plot and a stairway to nowhere leaves these homeowners frustrated the builders advertise it as gently sloping rear gardens yeah yeah with the women on the outside and the men behind bars a new series of prisoners wives begins over on bbc one now next here on bbc two a new series of verizon explains how creative insight works and on bbc four now unsung heroes who protected historical sites heritage the battle for britain's past you

Channel: The Forgotten Vault

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Id: IF3OUSt-M3E

Length: 59min 5sec (3545 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 05 2021