CAP, the Coniston Avenue Petition, is a case study based on the experience of part of the community living on Portsea Island in Hampshire who petitioned against an unsuitable housing initiative that will destroy the amenity of current residents, exacerbate an already serious parking crisis and create a relative devaluation in property values.
This case study illustrates a bizarre process of procedures which include public consultation and the opportunity for the public (stakeholders) to express their concerns. This the residents did on a unanimous basis but their concerns were not addressed in the decision analysis applied by the Planning Committee.
This therefore represents a shocking wake-up call for the people living on Portsea Island to the fact that councillors do not really represent the interests of the constituency but rather act as fronts to their poltiical parties so as to "handle" a process of imposition of directives created by their colleagues at Westminster, that is, Members of Parliament. They tend to spend a lot of time explaining why as free Britons we cannot have our concerns and preferences met, why we must accept that the balance of consideration under planning statutes will treat us unfairly. That we must accept unreasonable constraints on our freedom which prevent us from sustaining a state of affairs we prefer because satisfying our preferences will not be tolerated by their colleagues in Westminster.
There are significant constitutiuonal lessons emerging from this study such as the fact that brave statements that governance supports "Freedom, Fairness and Responsibility" rings very hollow and will never catch on as long as local councillors continue to act as apologists for such a system in a cowardly abandoment of any responsibility to their community.
Planning Statutes have nothing to do with freedom, fairness or responsibility and it is time that local representatives stand up to reject this prejudicial process rather than continue to act as "bouncers" on its behalf. Councillors cannot pretend to represent the views of constituents when they essentially counsel acceptance of the abusive impositions of bad laws and regulations dreamed up and defended by their Parliamentary party collegues in Westmnister.
On the right, please find the CAP Index, feel free to click on the topics of interest.
