A six hour meeting lasting until 1am – confusing, repetitive, unwieldy and unworkable. It must be perfectly clear to all by now that this authority as constituted is not fit for purpose. BCP Council cannot operate with so many councillors. It is behemoth, too large to be able to work in a proper democratic fashion. Too many people speak for too long and effectively say nothing, others line up one after another to say the same thing. Tuesday night’s agenda was too long, and there needs to be a time limit on council meetings after which unresolved business should be deferred.
A fenced off section of land in Jesmond Avenue, Highcliffe CONTENTIOUS plans to build 23 homes in Highcliffe have been called in after concerns were raised they could be replacing “unmapped ancient woodland”. More than 100 people have objected to the Jesmond Avenue planning application submitted by Brentland Ltd, opposing the “cramped” development. And now the Woodland Trust has called for the land to be assessed to see whether it is “irreplaceable” ancient woodland before any redevelopment is approved. The developer withdrew a 54-home scheme for the site last year before lodging its latest 23-home outline version with BCP Council in November.