A public inquiry is needed

On December 19, the application to put buildings on green belt land to the north and south of Coventry Airport was considered by Warwick District Council. The planning committee was evenly divided and the chairman, who spoke vigorously against the application, might have used his casting vote to refuse it. Instead, he decided to ask for more information about the alleged jobs the proposed development would create.

As this committee had originally considered this application so, surely, the same committee would reconsider it? No. Four councillors, including the chairman, had been replaced. The planning committee of June 12 was not the planning committee of December 19.

Why? You may well speculate - as indeed everybody has. Suffice it that the change was morally wrong.

As a particular group of councillors began to consider this application, so the same councillors should have decided it. Did you ever hear of a trial in which jurymen were replaced half way through the proceedings? The information solicited by the chairman was evidence intended for that particular group of councillors at that particular stage in their deliberations.

Moreover, the four new councillors had insufficient time in which to read and digest the vast number of documents submitted by the applicant. A professional planner could probably absorb the details of this case in five weeks, but not four laymen with full-time jobs and other concerns.

So for these reasons alone – never mind all the others – this application was improperly decided by Warwick District Council. Coventry Gateway is now a scandal.

The sooner this application is called in by the Secretary of State and goes to a public inquiry the better.

Nicholas Butler, East Street, Long Compton