I think Michael's interjection on the building's classification at #643 is timely and hugely informative.

From that information it could be concluded that planning officers and councillors on the planning committee were absolutely in tune with the sensibilities of the situation presented to them. This may be evidence that they did clearly understand and considered the thin end of the wedge argument and were not prepared to open the doors to No 5 becoming anything other than a small well run nursery (and most certainly not that infamously and locally feared chemical weapons factory) by endorsing a very well crafted qualification.

It substantially undercuts the ground of one of the mainstays of the protesters' arguments about the thin end of the wedge both for this property and any other where change of use applications may be being considered.

Perhaps some of the criticisms levelled at the planning authority's members and officers have been significantly misplaced. Furthermore I believe in a much earlier thread that it had been explained that a planning authority cannot take any cognisance of RC's whilst making their planning decisions.

This post was last modified: 09-03-2012 04:17 PM by jgdoherty.