Who in the Council ordered that the proposed St Andrews expansion be incorrectly put through as a minor planning application without proper public scrutiny being bought to bear?

Anonymous User made this Freedom of Information request to Brighton and Hove City Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The authority would like to / has responded by postal mail to this request.

On the 27th January at 11.17 Jeanette Walsh (Planning and building Control - Applications manager) wrote to Maria Boyle (cc Andrew Huntley - Jane Goodall).

She states: Most applications involving schools, unless its a portakabin or something small we do draw the red edge around the entire planning unit.

Andrew have you completed a site visit and have you considered the red edge issue?

This confirms that the normal practice of the Council is to draw a red edge around the entire planning unit.

I then ask you to look at the following link - http://ww3.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cf...

This is the Planning Application number: BH2014/04147 for St Andrews Schools proposed expansion.

Under the documents tab there is a supporting document created by Tony Foulger (its the 27th entry down added on the 9th December 2014 - it doesn't have a title) which is called Supporting document 3242225. On all pages, but very clearly on page 5, it shows the correct whole site plan of the School, which would automatically make this a major application as its over 1 hectare.

The intention by the architect to correctly include the whole school site at the outset is clear, as it was ringed in red. On the 24th December 2014 a planning application was submitted with the original paper documents showing the whole site ringed (except for the staff car park which must be included as its details are included on the application form). However the online plans submitted were altered, following no known boundary to illegally reduce the size of the site to under 0.5 hectare. Despite a formal complaint (complaint number BHC-017647) being made to point out this error and ask for the papers to be resubmitted on the correct major application basis, I have had no response from the council to this formal complaint.

Under FOI:4477/2015 it was also made clear that there has been an attempt to conceal the fact that Andrew Huntley was the planning officer involved in this case. I have also been denied access to the complete planning application file for 27 days.

Who in the Council ordered that the proposed St Andrews expansion be put through as an illegal minor planning application without proper public scrutiny being bought to bear?

Under this answer can I please request to see the full email responses from Andrew Huntley, Maria Boyle, Jane Goodall to Jeanette Walsh's email of the 27th January 2015. Can I also please see the full email correspondence between Andrew Huntley and Tony Foulger that led to the correct original site plan being illegally cut down to try and circumvent the law?

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Brighton and Hove City Council

The case file is a public document. It contains copies of all the correspondence requested.

The case file can be made available to view at our Contact Centre at Hove Town Hall.

Please call either 01273 292222 or Mr Huntley direct on 01273 292321 to make and appointment to view.

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