Comedy of errors over fence

Having discovered that the 1995 Town and Country Planning act requires that planning permission is received before erecting a fence over one metre in height, I contacted the town hall planning department.

I believe that permission was not sought by the community and leisure department before erecting the fence. I was told the whole matter was much more complex than it appeared and could take a few weeks to resolve.

If there is a question as to whether planning permission is required, why was this not clarified in the first place? I'll tell you.

First and foremost, planning permission requires consultation with local and interested parties to check for objections. It would have been dead in the water immediately, as we have over 1,000 people complaining over the erection of this fence on an unfinished petition. So they did it another way. Coun Jack Fairless, chair of the Board of Governors of Witton Park School, thought it would just be done on the nod with Mr Eddie Runswick, director of Community and Leisure.

He, in turn, ordered the fence using delegated owners. Thus the councillors on the committee were not required to be consulted.

Coun Malcolm Doherty, vice-chair of the governors, thought he could call the erection of the entire 61 metres of the fence a repair and thought people would believe him. Blunder compounded blunder and still goes on.

Some advice, gentlemen. When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Admit you're wrong and re-open access to the woods.

Will the democratically elected councillors on the planning and community and leisure committees be allowed to talk about this issue at full council, now that permission to speak has to be sought in writing from the relevant chairperson, or will this farce continue?

JOHN CRAMSIE, (member of Witton Park User Group), St Mark's Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.