S.O.C.H.

Priory Owners Fourth Planning Application Refused The owners of St Osyth Priory, City and Country Group PLC, who, for reasons of spin prefer to be known as the “Sargeant Family”, have had yet another application to stick a road through the middle of the Bury refused. In an action-packed evening of passionate speeches on the 23rd November, TDC planning committee voted unanimously to reject their latest attempt, sneakily titled as “Relocation of unsafe access”. This subterfuge was quickly seen through, despite some toady TDC official advising to the contrary, and thereby opening himself up to unpleasant accusations, including "stupid prat". If this access is so unsafe, why haven’t they closed it before? As it happens, it's no longer an access because it has an illegal fence across it and was rarely used in the past anyway, as there is a perfectly safe access at the other end of the Bury. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t fit in with C&C’s plans for a grand entrance for their wedding venue and for buyers of their “apartments”, as they continue to vandalise the fabric of the building. So, just to recap, that’s planning applications lost in August 2006, May 2007, the appeal to the Government Inspector who chucked out their laughable and misleading pile of porkies in July 2007, and now this one. Instead of half-baked attempts to grind the council down and make plenty of cash, they might consider facing up to their responsibilities to maintain our Bury for the benefit of everyone in the village. St Osyth awaits their next manoeuvre, and of course, we are still waiting for TDC to enforce the planning laws; it’s said a decision is imminent, however, this decision will probably be made mainly on financial grounds, as there’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us.