Democracy in action

We spent this afternoon at the County Council's Planning Committee, and I have come home very discouraged. The Committee (it says here) consists of sixteen members of the Council, of whom maybe half were present, and they approved the recommendation of the planning officers in all four of the cases we heard. In every case, this was a recommendation to approve the planning application, and in every case, it was opposed by the local ward councillors, as well as by local residents.

On the one hand, you may say, that's what we pay planning officers for, to come up with the best possible answers: why should the committee try to second guess them? But in that case, don't waste my time and mess with my emotions by telling me that if objectors make a strong enough case, they can persuade the committee that the officers have got it wrong.

( Briefly, but not briefly enough )

So that's that.