To: Cllr Ali Demirci, Mr Stephen Kelly and LDF team – LBH Planning
As we approach the end date for the consultation period on Haringey Council’s planning polices and related document I write from the Our Tottenham Planning Policy Working Group (active on behalf of the Our Tottenham Network) to request that the consultation be halted and re-scheduled because the process is fundamentally flawed.
We have done our best to publicise and explain the consultation process to all our contacts throughout Tottenham, despite our lack of resources and capacity and the extremely challenging material we are encouraging public responses to. However, despite our best efforts, we have found this an impossible task to do effectively for the reasons set out below.
Fair and lawful consultation
Haringey Council’s Consultation Charter states that the Council undertakes consultations “so that people who live and work in the borough have a say in the Council decision making process and know that their views have been taken into account.”
In the recent Moseley judgement against Haringey Council by the Supreme Court the judges set out the conditions for fair consultation. These are: “ First, that consultation must be at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage. Second, that the proposer must give sufficient reasons for any proposal to permit of intelligent consideration and response. Third,… that adequate time must be given for consideration and response and, finally, fourth, that the product of consultation must be conscientiously taken into account in finalising any statutory proposals. ” Continue reading