Residents Association Reaction To News Of Veolia Intending To Appeal

Statement issued on behalf of the LLRA by Jon Davies LLRA Secretary
See long-leys.org/veolia-intend-to-appeal-planning-decision/ for further details

Veolia have announced their intention to appeal the decision to refuse planning permission for the development of a waste transfer station on their Long Leys Road site. We have received this news via an email to our local county councillor.

Veolia have until the 6th of August 2017 to formally lodge an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate. Once they have lodged an appeal we will know the grounds of their appeal and will then have some weeks to submit comments to the Planning Inspectorate (5 weeks is the legal minimum). Other parties, such as the City Council, County Council and Highways can also submit comments.

We have no information about the specific grounds for Veolia’s intended appeal. It would be for the Planning Inspectorate to determine the form of appeal: it could be written representations, a more informal meeting/hearing or a public inquiry. The Residents’ Association are highly aware of the strong level of feeling about Veolia’s original application. Given any appeal’s controversial nature, we will consider lobbying activity to persuade the Planning Inspector to allow the community to express their views directly to the Planning Inspector at either a hearing or public inquiry.

The Residents’ Association committee are meeting on Thursday 6 July to discuss the response on behalf of the Long Leys community. The LLRA will communicate in more detail on Friday 7th July and is likely to be looking for community assistance in areas related to Veolia’s appeal. To help communication, a new Long Leys Community Email list has been set up. You can subscribe to this list at long-leys.org/subscribe

There is no doubt that many of us in Long Leys feel huge disappointment at the news of Veolia’s intended appeal. However, we should not be downhearted. If we work effectively together and use the skills and energy that exist in the Long Leys community then we can have some optimism of achieving the right result. Watch this space.