Madness?

[JennyMorgan]

When honesty, logic and common sense walk out the door, when democracy is under threat:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/broads_authority_accused_of_doing_dirty_laundry_in_public_in_row_over_village_phone_box_1_4609682

[BroadScot]

Stupidity of the highest order ! JM....Crazy!!!

Iain

[VetChugger]

What did they want to do to the phone box that was so "ridiculous"??

[Poppy]

14 minutes ago, VetChugger said:

What did they want to do to the phone box that was so "ridiculous"??

Nothing - nothing at all , except to 'change its use ' .

 

[MauriceMynah]

To what? In fairness, that might be relevent!

[BroadScot]

1 hour ago, MauriceMynah said:

To what? In fairness, that might be relevent!

A mini garden centre? Liberal Party conference? FA new manager committee room? Meeting room for ex GPO Telephone engineers, the options are endless! 

Iain

[Poppy]

3 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

To what? In fairness, that might be relevent!

Apparently the Parish wish to use it as an information kiosk for the village. NO change in appearance - just use.

[BroadScot]

34 minutes ago, Poppy said:

Apparently the Parish wish to use it as an information kiosk for the village. NO change in appearance - just use.

That sounds pretty straight forward.

Iain

[JennyMorgan]

Lana is an elected member of the BA planning committee, she has not been chosen by the senior executive. The Authority has, once again, made a fool of itself & Lana has questioned this, as is her duty to those who elected her. She is therefore not supporting without question the executive and officers, she has therefor sinned and the un-elected quango wants rid of her. Control freekery of the worst kind, it's opposing democracy and, in this case, common sense. In this case the parish council wishes to keep its iconic, red phone box and to that end has found a reasonable and sensible use for it rather than loose it. An officer at the BA has used his 'delegated powers' to oppose that use.

[Poppy]

12 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Lana is an elected member of the BA planning committee, she has not been chosen by the senior executive. The Authority has, once again, made a fool of itself & Lana has questioned this, as is her duty to those who elected her. She is therefore not supporting without question the executive and officers, she has therefor sinned and the un-elected quango wants rid of her. Control freekery of the worst kind, it's opposing democracy and, in this case, common sense. In this case the parish council wishes to keep its iconic, red phone box and to that end has found a reasonable and sensible use for it rather than loose it. An officer at the BA has used his 'delegated powers' to oppose that use.

Are you sure it's 'his' ?

[JonC]

The planning officer has not used delegated powers to oppose this, they have used their training and knowledge to interpret the law. Planning officers generally have a degree in planning, somebody sitting on the planning committee might have done a day or two on a course (if they are lucky).  The planning officer has a legal responsibility to apply the law, just because its a parish council doing something nice does not mean they can ignore the law.

Change of use concerns the use a building is put to, not what it looks like.

[Vaughan]

I think someone mentioned on here that phone boxes have always been information centres. You can find out where to get French lessons, oriental massages, or even where to put your hands on a large chest.

I know the law has to be obeyed, etc., etc., but surely in this case the law is a complete ass?

[vanessan]

There is an old red telephone box in South Walsham that is now an 'information kiosk' presumably that had planning permission? This is not putting the BA in a very good light - for both reasons.

[JennyMorgan]

Jon C, all fair comment , but equally the planning officer, whether a he or a she, could have given the nod and approved this minimal change of use. Surely common sense has some say in this? As Vaughan has commented, phone boxes have long been used to dispense information.

  

[JennyMorgan]

 This one goes rather beyond a disused telephone box in a remote Norfolk village. The BAs problem with Lana is that she's not one of the Executive's approved, helpful group of people. No one is directly elected to the Broads Authority - yet it is 50% public funded by river tolls.  Policy clearly emanates from unelected staff and is nodded through by Authority members that the staff largely control and even take a hand in their selection. Two Authority members have been removed by direct action by officers (one of those was an elected District Council nominee and vice chairman) and this looks very like a third attempt. Who is running this organisation and for whose benefit, as if we don't know? It is time that toll payers elected a suitable proportion of members. We would then have an opportunity to vote out those that we disagree with. It is not right that this unaccountable body rolls on with officer lead policies, and 'approved' committee members.

[Poppy]

3 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

 This one goes rather beyond a disused telephone box in a remote Norfolk village. The BAs problem with Lana is that she's not one of the Executive's approved, helpful group of people. No one is directly elected to the Broads Authority - yet it is 50% public funded by river tolls.  Policy clearly emanates from unelected staff and is nodded through by Authority members that the staff largely control and even take a hand in their selection. Two Authority members have been removed by direct action by officers (one of those was an elected District Council nominee and vice chairman) and this looks very like a third attempt. Who is running this organisation and for whose benefit, as if we don't know? It is time that toll payers elected a suitable proportion of members. We would then have an opportunity to vote out those that we disagree with. It is not right that this unaccountable body rolls on with officer lead policies, and 'approved' committee members.

..... whilst the other half comes directly from the public purse !

[JennyMorgan]

http://www.broadsnationalpike.com/2016/07/blessed-punishment-beatings-continue_17.html

[JonC]

1. all that the edp24 article says is that the planning officer advised that change of use is required, it does not say if it was applied for. If it was applied for has anybody got the reference as I would like to know if the planning officer supported the change of use. Change of use obviously cannot be approved under delegated powers if its not applied for.

[Vaughan]

Sounds like putting the cart before the phone box.