A COUNCIL leader has defended an “appalling” housing development feedback form that asks people to write on a 317-page document.

Matthew Barber spoke after residents, including award-winning author Philip Pullman, criticised how it was collecting feedback online for its Local Plan.

The plan sets out where Vale of White Horse District Council hopes to build more than 20,500 houses in the district until 2031.

A six-week consultation closed on December 19.

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The online form asked for views in boxes alongside each paragraph of the plan, rather than giving general concerns in one place.

One paragraph Vale residents are asked to give their thoughts on said: “At smaller villages, limited infill development may be appropriate within the existing built areas of these settlements or if it is allocated within an adopted Neighbourhood Development Plan or future parts of the Local Plan 2031.”

Appleton Road, Cumnor resident Judy Sissons, 60, said: “It was an appalling form. It was a nightmare to fill in, it was really confusing.

“If they want people to give their views they should make it easier to understand.”

Mrs Sissons objected to land off Appleton Road being removed from the Green Belt for possible future housing development.

She said: “The council believed no one was going to bother [to comment]. They made sure they could sabotage our views.

“Everybody I know is furious about it.”

Mr Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy and a resident of Cumnor, said: “It was difficult to find the form and then filling it in was impossible.

“It took me all morning sitting at the computer when I have other things to do. Other websites make it easy for you, why is this so difficult? The suspicion arises they don’t want responses.

“I felt like I was being deliberately discouraged. It looked like it was just cooked up by someone in the office.”

Yet Conservative Mr Barber said independent planning inspectors – who will review the Local Plan – require comments on its individual points.

He said: “The process is a bit more complicated because we are required to collect and present the information in a certain way for the inspector.

“If people wrote essay-style answers the council would have to go through it and pick out each piece of information by hand.

“If other local authorities have done this better then I’d like to know about it so we can learn lessons, but I suspect they all look similar. I certainly reject that there’s anything done deliberately to stop people commenting. Objections are some of the most helpful comments.’’

Vale of White Horse District Council, the Planning Inspectorate and Department for Communities and Local Government did not respond to requests for comment.

 

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