Two councillors from the same party have clashed over how long some planning restrictions should be relaxed in Argyll and Bute.
A report to the council’s planning, protective services and licensing committee proposed that planning restrictions relating to town centre activity should be relaxed, as they have been since July 2020, until March 2022.
But Conservative councillor Alastair Redman, who represents the Kintyre and the Islands ward, said those regulations should be relaxed indefinitely to ‘put growth first’.
His party colleague David Kinniburgh (Helensburgh and Lomond South), who chairs the committee, rejected that idea and asked Cllr Redman if he was proposing to let people do what they want.
Other councillors also expressed their opinions before the relaxations to the restrictions until March were agreed as recommended in the report.
Cllr Redman said: “Certainly it does seem to take a crisis to identify issues needing rectified, and I would argue for these to be extended indefinitely.
“We should always incentivise growth and it should not take a crisis for us to put growth first.
“I wonder if, post-pandemic, we were to have the same mindset, if we put jobs and opportunities first and if we were to extend this indefinitely?”
But Cllr Kinniburgh, who is also Argyll and Bute’s policy lead for planning and the area’s provost, responded: “I certainly would not concur with that.
“Are you proposing that we rip up the laws, bin them and let people do what they want?”
Cllr Redman replied: “My opinion is that while I respect your experience, we have so many railway stations and factories which were built before planning regulations existed, and a lot remain to this day.
“I wonder if too much government can cause too many problems for the private sector. There are so many constituents I hear from about polytunnels. Signage on their shops. Windows, for goodness’ sake.
“I do feel that at times, planning can be a bit over-zealous, and I would like a growth-centric approach.”
Cllr Gordon Blair (SNP, Cowal) said: “I am losing the will to live. While it is nice to hear views, can we move on and get on with planning?”
And Cllr Councillor George Freeman (Independent, Lomond North) added: “I would have thought there was more scope for officers to take enforcement action where it is appropriate.
“Over the last year or 18 months, when people have raised planning concerns with me, the bottom line is that I have to go back and say the Scottish Government have said we take no enforcement action.
“But I do not agree that it should be a free for all, unlike some members. That would not be acceptable.”
In the report, council executive director Kirsty Flanagan had said: “The council has sought to support businesses through this challenging period and recognised that the inherent time periods built into the planning process to facilitate engagement and transparency were not always capable of being aligned with the rapid pace of change seen over recent months.
“In order to address this shortcoming, the council leadership group previously adopted a planning position statement in July 2020 setting out a formal relaxation to planning enforcement and the requirement to apply for planning permission in relation to temporary changes of use and structures within town centres where these were required to facilitate resumption of business activity following ‘lockdown’.
“It is, however, recognised that the extraordinary circumstances meriting temporary relaxations of planning enforcement remain in place.
“This is highlighted by the Scottish Government’s recent decision to seek to extend the ‘emergency period’ defined by the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act for a further period of six months, expiring March 30, 2022.”
Leave a Reply