The judges awarded it when they condemned the decision to "rip up" planning rules to allow the scheme to go ahead. So it appears that Martin Ford, Paul Johnstone, Debra Storr and Sam Coull have made a stand which is backed by others. It is the principle that this was steamrollered out of the hands of the local planning authorities who had reservations, made recommendations and offered a opportunity for a resubmission that clearly stands out in this category.
The fact that a spokesman for Trump has braded the decision a "joke" shows how little regard the Trump organisation has for the law of the land and local people.
On the matter of "Plook on the Plinth" I'll stand beside Tricia Marwick, SNP MSP for Central Fife, just as I did at the by election count who said:
"I am sick to death of people doing down Glenrothes. I fully agree that we
need more civic space in Glenrothes. However, the problem, as we all know, is
that the Kingdom Shopping Centre and the area surrounding it is privately owned
thanks to decisions taken by previous administrations.
"This has left us with virtually no civic space and a town centre
surrounded by roads."
There are elements of Glenrothes that do stand out as quite the opposite. As do the network of paths for pesestrians and cyclists which are similar to those in Livingston. There are sadly some rather dour parts of town. But I've seen and even campaigned in many other such areas across Scotland over recent years.
The fact that 20 other LibDem cllrs from Aberdeenshire plus the local LibDem MP's. MSP's all supported teh Trump plan on balance is simply being overlooked in this blog - why?
ReplyDeleteWell LfL (and it is a shame that while it is plain who I am,that post your comment shrouded in anonimity) there are a number of reasons:
ReplyDeleteThe Lib Dems beleive in devolving power as far as possible to a local level. So the planning application was looked at by the local planning committee.
The Lib Dems that I first signed up for some 20 years ago had and still a very environmental councious.
There is the word Democrats in the party name. The members of the planning committee were:
a) chosen to sit on that committee by the rest of the group
b) made a decision based on the evidence before them based on evidence provided
c) the one with the casting vote voted as is the precedent in such cases with the status quo
Therefore a democratic, local decision was made by those trusted with the evidence. The committee did welcome a resubmission, but instead Trump with his billions steam rollered over local democracy and sadly there has been complicity of local so-called Liberal Democrats turned on those who used their liberal and democratic rights and responsibilty to come to a decision over a strip of land of special environmental interest.
It would be two faced of me to blog about the inconsistancies of other parties if I failed to point out inconsistancies in my own. Far from overlooking that I think it is a sad state of affairs that needs to be highlighted. You may disagree but that is also one of the joys of being a Liberal Democrat that we can.