I have some contact with a local campaign group that is resisting a planning allocation of new build that is so intensive it will urbanise the character of a famous historic village and market town.
The District Council is overwhelmingly Tory, and in this beautiful rural area large housing developments inevitably run into fierce opposition.
The Council has allocated a highly disproportionate percentage of the new housing requirement to the two isolated Green wards - wards where the Tories have no realistic chance of winning.
There is a strong economic case against this allocation - infrastructure is already overstretched, the roads break pollution regulations, and the volume of housing is substantially greater than the identified local need.
It is pretty clear that the District politicians are simply dumping the unpopular housing on the two wards where it won't endanger their vote and subject them to uncomfortable opposition.
Is there any potential legal remedy for what appears to be a highly unfair and partisan approach to planning policy?
The District Council is overwhelmingly Tory, and in this beautiful rural area large housing developments inevitably run into fierce opposition.
The Council has allocated a highly disproportionate percentage of the new housing requirement to the two isolated Green wards - wards where the Tories have no realistic chance of winning.
There is a strong economic case against this allocation - infrastructure is already overstretched, the roads break pollution regulations, and the volume of housing is substantially greater than the identified local need.
It is pretty clear that the District politicians are simply dumping the unpopular housing on the two wards where it won't endanger their vote and subject them to uncomfortable opposition.
Is there any potential legal remedy for what appears to be a highly unfair and partisan approach to planning policy?