COUNCIL PLANNING DEPARTMENT

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Council officers failed to post adverts in the local press about sixty major building projects. This means members of the public were less likely to be aware of them and raise any objections before approval was granted. Council rules state that if four or more complaints are made, plans have to be discussed by councillors at a public meeting instead of being approved privately by officers. Councillor Paul Bayliss said, "It's an absolute disaster for democracy and for the city council."

In March a mental health unit in the city was agreed by officers without being referred to the planning committee and earlier this month, city planning chief Jonathan Guest admitted the development should have been advertised in the pages of the local press. Now a report by planning chief Richard Williams has recommended that councillors consider whether to withdraw permission for the scheme, a move that could leave the authority open to legal action from the developer.

It states that checks have since revealed officers failed to advertise dozens of other major planning applications in the press since July 2006. If permission for the hospital in City Gate is not withdrawn, residents living near the 46-bed development may have to be given compensation by the authority. A council spokesman said he could not say whether permission could be revoked from the other developments, or compensation paid, until the matter had been before councillors.

Mr Bayliss said, "Of all the things the council has got wrong over the years, this has to be the worst mistake I've come across in my career as a councillor since 1996. It's absolutely appalling and is going to be a massive problem for the city." By law, any development which has floor space of 1,000 square metres or is a residential scheme of 10 or more homes should be advertised in the local press.

Three planning applications were lodged for the City Gate hospital development, with the floor space ranging from 2,900 to 3,500 square metres. After it emerged the scheme was not advertised before being granted permission by officers under delegated powers, officers were asked to check all major applications approved since July 2006 to see whether the same failure to advertise applied to them.

In the City Gate hospital case, notices were posted around the site, but residents say they never saw them. Letters were not sent to their homes because, under national planning guidance, they were deemed to live too far away from the site. The report states that in July 2006, planners took a decision to stop press adverts "on the grounds that this was not a cost-effective way of promoting and publicising and that we would still be meeting our statutory requirement for publicity".

It says a checklist of planning procedures that was consulted before the decision failed to state that advertising in the press was required by law. Councillor Alan Graves, who also represents Alvaston, described the situation as a "farce". He said, "I think perhaps what we need is a new planning department. After all this time, we find out they're not doing it right which means they've not served the people of Derby properly."

Mr Williams has recommended that before councillors consider whether to withdraw permission for the mental health hospital, they give local residents an opportunity to comment on the development. He states, "It is open to the council to revoke that permission and/or require the removal of the limited amount of work already carried out. Other possible 'remedies' could include making an apology or compensation to the residents most seriously affected by the proposed development." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, May/09)

The City of Derby has been blessed over the past few years with some of the worst performing Local Authority departments in the land. In particular the Planning Department have assumed a dictatorial position that brooks no reasoned discussion with the local taxpayers of the City with regard to new developments. Derby Heart (Heritage and Environment Association for Residents and Traders) has been active in challenging the City Council since 2002 with some degree of success.

In that time a catalogue of failures of the Planning Department has accumulated, culminating in at least 60 planning applications failing to be advertised in the press that should have been under the Town & Country Planning Act. There are actually more than the 61 identified in the Derby Evening Telegraph. The Council Officers claimed that this was an 'honest mistake'. As it more or less coincided with similar pleas from MPs with regard to their expenses the excuse was greeted with a degree of cynicism.

Here is the Derby Heart letter to the Acting Chief Executive sent in June 2009 setting out the principle failings and requesting an independent enquiry into the workings of the Derby City Council Planning Department. There has been no response so far (the timespan has exceeded the accepted period for a reply to correspondence but this was only to be expected).

In correspondence with the Planning Department it was apparent also that they do not understand the English language, for their written Condition on a planning application that the construction of a lay-by had to be implemented before a development was brought into use did not mean, according to the Planning Department, that the lay-by had to be built before the development was opened. That observation took nearly two weeks to compose! (Source: Derby Heart, Jul/09)

Residential Care and Treatment Facility, Site A, City Gate, Derby

Also known as: Cygnet Acute Psychiatric Hospital

The area is already saturated with "treatment centres". The London Road corridor between City Gate and the Blue Peter island supports the following residential treatment and care projects:-

1. The new four storey YMCA residential building housing 145 residents classed as homeless. This overlooks the south end of Ellesmere Avenue. We have always supported this venture and a YMCA facility has been on this site for many years.

2. A multi-occupancy house opposite Ellesmere Avenue for the homing of adolescent girls in need of care.

3. The Bail Hostel, a multi-occupancy house near Taylor Street Wilmorton.

4. Strawberry Fields, London Road a rehabilitation and treatment centre for people fighting drug and alcohol addiction. This is in the large house previously known as Meadowside Residential Home for Older People.

5. 1180 London Road. A multi-occupancy residential home known as “The Dry House” for those suffering from alcohol addiction and trying to make a serious attempt to get better.

6. Jericho House London Road almost opposite the dry house. A multi-occupancy “wet house” run by an order of religious people and offering overnight shelter for those suffering from a variety of alcohol /substance abuse but not yet ready to stop using these substances.

The residents of Wilmorton and Alvaston have made no complaints, raised no objections and accepted these needy people. We have been and still are, are very supportive and tolerant community.

The siting of the proposal is not suitable for a residential establishment of any type. The PDSA and the barking dogs are very close neighbours on one side, industrial units on another, the remaining two sides face on to the main A6 inner ring road with non-stop heavy traffic all day and a high voltage electrified test rail facility. Is this really a place for those suffering from mental illness of whatever type?

The gradual rehabilitation and integration into a normal society must be the aim of any treatment centre. Is the Wilmorton area the best we can offer our less fortunate ones? Patients will be vulnerable when taking their first steps into a community. In the last year we have seen brothels and drug dealing houses raided and fire arms used in more than one situation. Pimps and drug dealers will target vulnerable people.

The safety issue is a concern. This satellite unit will be sited a long way from all the mainstream backup resources of the Derbyshire Mental Health Trust.

The local residents feel very vulnerable. Although many of us will experience mental health issues both personally and through loved ones, there is still a lot of fear in the community. A fear fuelled by reading of the frequent cases when horrendous acts of violence are committed by those who have slipped through the net by not being supervised effectively with their medication, or discharged from care too soon.

This rebounds severely on the victim and their family, the community, and very often by relatives and carers of the psychiatrically disturbed patient. It is not easy to reassure elderly, frail widows and widowers, parents of young children and other concerned residents that they have nothing to fear. They switch on TV and there is another case where “Lessons must be learned”! We all know they never are.

In June 2009, the Ombudsman reprimanded Cygnet Health when they changed the use of a treatment facility from elderly people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease to high security use. This was sited opposite a Primary School and residents only became aware when patients started absconding.

A psychiatric hospital of this size will result in substantially increasing the amount of traffic using London Road. This narrow piece of the ring road is already heavily congested. When Derby County Football Club are playing at Pride Park and during other peak hours, the road is frequently gridlocked and we are unable to get in or out of the side streets. This also hampers the movement of emergency service vehicles.

I ask that the proposal and planning for the City Gate Hospital be revoked. Madeline Hackett

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