StpaulINus.info
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Excerpted from the website:
- The Diocese of Middlesbrough has applied for planning permission to build a new church and community facility in the grounds of the St Paulinus primary school, situated on The Avenue in the market town of Guisborough. The aim is to replace the existing church located in Park Lane in the town. The intention to build a new church has been a long standing ambition of the Catholic community in Guisborough and the plans to build at The Avenue site have been discussed and developed for at least eighteen months. However, local residents and neighbours of the school site were only made aware of the plans when they received formal notification by Redcar and Cleveland Council following submission of the planning application to the Local Planning Authority (LPA). The LPA followed the correct procedures but the Diocese, as developers of the site, made no attempt to discuss the plans, consult or meet with local residents and to this day have consistently refused to do so. The correct procedure followed by the LPA does not require a particularly wide consultation and so many of the people living on the neighbouring Pine Hills and Hutton Meadows estates were not aware of the proposed development until after the deadline to comment on the plans. Worryingly, the planning officer responsible for this application, having reviewed the plans and receiving 25 letters of objection (bearing in mind many residents did not even know of the application) recommended conditional approval of the plans. The conditions were relatively minor and included ensuring that tree and seed planting was carried out at the right time of the year, that turning space in the car park be more detailed and that there was adequate cycle parking facilities. The democratically elected councillors responsible for making planning decisions deferred the decision at the planning meeting, 29th June 2006, and arranged a site visit. At the site visit over 100 local residents turned up to express their opposition to the development and to show their anger at the conduct of the Diocese for the seemingly underhand manner that the development had proceeded so far. The architects acting for the Diocese had marked out the boundary of the development and it became clear for the first time to many the sheer scale of the development. The boundary of the new church would come within a few feet of the school, which is probably the smallest in Guisborough, and the size of the new building would dwarf the existing buildings. The councillors also made a visit to nearby Rosedale to see for themselves the impact such a development would have on nearby houses. Use the link to the right to view the plans. Thankfully, reason prevailed and the LPA refused planning permission on three grounds. Use the link to the right to see the decision notice. People that would be living in the shadow of the new building should, however, be aware that the decision was 6 to 4 to refuse, not unanimous. Since the decision the Diocese of Middlesbrough have stated that they plan to appeal and, through the offices of the Parish Priest, have been trying to garner support from the community and parents of children at the school. They steadfastly refuse to meet with local residents to hear their concerns face to face.
