15 October (Part 2) - A Lodge of Crooks?
The
most amazing things are coming to light as
the Golf Pod application for Crook
Log is probed ever more deeply. It is not impossible that Bexley Council’s
abysmal handling - very easily arguable as negligent or dishonest - could end up in Court.
Because of that the following gives only a flavour of what has been going on.
While you and I are
not allowed to look at the objections, the Planning Officer,
while agreeing that the Council’s policy is not to reveal the objections it considers,
sent a summary to the applicant so that he could more easily make his case for countering them.
The Environment Department said “Environmental Health has No Objection on the
Application”. That’s it. A one line capitulation to commercial pressure. (The
applicant was complaining about the delay and how they had so much invested in the project.)
When pressed further, Environmental Health responded with “The noise would be no
different to cricket or hockey. We wouldn’t look at the noise impact assessment for loss of amenity”.
From boundary to the wicket at Lords is a distance of 90 metres. Pods to gardens
at Crook Log will be 16 metres. In cricket there is the occasional thud of
willow on leather. One stroke at a time and possibly minutes apart. Titanium drivers
can hit 130dB and there will be ten Golf Pods each firing a rapid succession of
balls. Cricket matches last for a matter of hours and not every day of the week.
The name of the Environmental Health Officer is redacted but whoever it is is clearly an imbecile.
The whole tone of the correspondence with the applicant is far too friendly and
clearly aimed at getting the plan through the Committee. Indeed at one point
there is a reference to not going to Committee. None of the detail was
communicated to the Planning Committee. Incompetence or corruption is getting ever harder to tell.
Never has the misspelled Crook Log sign seemed more appropriate.