I’ve tuned into webcast of the hearings. I find it interesting to watch the churning wheels of UK government at work.
You watched this voluntarily?
I do not often have to participate in such hearings, but I can say from past experience that it can be a grueling and dispiriting process when you’ve got a lot of work and effort at risk in the result. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a planning process, just that it goes off the rails when opponents are just anti-development by default, instead of raising specific concerns to be addressed.
Welcome to our world! There was reasonably well known architect on X saying that their designs for an extension was refused because the windows were wooden framed?! - the planners in UK are becoming nitpickers and the whole system is bonkers as present as it lacks common sense like in the past - a £100m bat tunnel was recently built for High Speed 2 rail line between London to Birmingham because they didn't want to destroy protected bats and their habitats - surely you could have recreated a new habitat for these bats??.
There is more protection for bats than there is improving life for children - £100m would have gone a long way to improving children's lives like better schools and more playground facilities etc. We have our priorities wrong at present in the UK planning system which in parts is definitely holding back the economy from growing.
The world has gone batty!