Developers getting the blame, at a cost

Dear Sir,

Mr Muller, of Muller Property Group, is quoted on page 19 of last week's Chronicle as saying that 21% of new homes recently granted planning permission were done so on appeal.

This raises the question of why these appeals were granted, when Cheshire East considered them unsuitable.

If the council is going to refuse applications, it must have a robust reason to explain why they are not in the borough's interests.

This statistic suggests to me that at least some of these refusals were done in the knowledge that the decision would be overturned.

It must be tempting to refuse these applications for political reasons, and allow the developer to take the blame for them being built.

That way, the council can get its desired number of completed properties, while escaping much of the criticism for them, though at a cost.

Yours faithfully,

(DR) PETER HIRST

Middlewich