PLANNING ISSUE GOES TO APPEAL

Brigg Town Council is waiting to see whether the political regime now overseeing planning in North Lincolnshire will put its faith in new technology or return to the age of paper printouts.
Prior to the May elections, Brigg Town Council was fighting a change in the way planning applications are notified to parish and town councils.
North Lincolnshire Council stopped sending printed copies of applications and supporting documents, saying parish and town councils should view them on its website – and suggesting they could print their own if they wanted “hard” copies.
Labour were then in charge at North Lincolnshire Council - and after hearing complaints from Brigg and Barton about the removal of printed copies of applications, a senior Labour councillor within the unitary authority suggested a review should be undertaken of that decision.
The election then followed, with Labour losing control to the Conservatives.
So now Brigg town councillors are waiting to hear what policy the Tories intend to follow.
Coun Ben Nobbs (pictured above), chairman of Brigg Town Council’s Planning and Environment Committee, told his colleagues that the Town Council was still not receiving paper plans, despite the suggested review.
Town Clerk Jeanette Woollard said she had managed to print off the latest Brigg applications without encountering technical issues, but pointed out that having to do so was increasing Town Council costs.
When it came to large applications, she said North Lincolnshire Council was suggesting town councils project them onto a screen to view at meetings.
However, Coun Mel Oades said that would require use of a laptop computer.
Couns Jackie Brock and Chris Dyson both highlighted the difficulty of viewing some planning maps and complex documents online.
The point was also made that not all councillors have access to a computer.
North Lincolnshire Council has pointed to grants being made available in the past to allow town and parish councils to obtain suitable equipment to project online planning information for viewing at their meetings.
Prior to Brigg councillors latest meeting, they were advised that, in order to be able to make informed decisions on the latest applications, they would have to view them online at home or at Brigg Library, or make arrangements with the Town Clerk to view them from the Town Council Office.
Brigg Blog has offered North Lincolnshire Council the opportunity to comment on this issue but nothing has been received so far. If a statement does arrive, we will post it to put their side of the story.






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