A campaign group fighting proposals for a 325-home development in Sandbach said it received 87 complaints in just one day from residents unable to upload their objections to Cheshire East’s “upgraded” planning portal.
The date for members of the public to comment on the Bloor Homes application to build the dwellings and a community park – on 19.28 hectares of open countryside and agricultural land between Manor Road and The Hill – was extended to midday on 9th October, following some revisions to the scheme, (ITALICS writes local democracy reporter Belinda Ryan).
Campaign group Sandbach Vs Overdevelopment said that around 1,000 objections to the application had been uploaded to the council’s planning portal.
But the group said it feared that not all the representations made by the public would get through to council planners because Cheshire East’s planning portal regularly failed to upload them and instead displayed an error message.
It also urged residents to also email their comments on the application directly to the council’s planners.
The group uploaded a message to the council last week informing it of the portal’s failures.
Seventh
Referring to a resident who only managed to upload their objection at the seventh attempt because the portal kept registering an error, the group said: “This is one of 87 complaints we received yesterday alone about portal issues both in loading the application and comments and in their submissions.
“It seems this person has emailed in the end so please could you kindly ensure their objection is logged.
“Many who have experienced these issues have given up and we fear have therefore not submitted their objections.”
Cheshire East “upgraded” its planning portal last year and since then there have been a flood of complaints that it is not fit for purpose.
A recent meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee called for the issued to be examined, and a report to be presented to its next meeting.
Coun Rachel Bailey said she had been inundated with complaints from residents in her Audlem ward who were having difficulties responding to a planning consultation.
The week before that Tatton MP Esther McVey wrote in the “Knutsford Guardian” that the council’s new system was “not fit for purpose” and “makes a complete mockery of the planning system”, after being contacted by angry residents in her constituency.
In November of last year Mobberley Parish Council, which acts as a consultee on applications in its area, reported it was unable to make its views known to Cheshire East on certain proposals because it had been unable to view some documents at that particular planning meeting.
