Community petition thrown out under “secret” rules 17/11/11
A community petition with over 500 names opposing a controversial fish farm has been
rejected by Western Isles Council because it breaches “secret” rules the authority
failed -
Furious campaigners accuse the council of double standards and question why it has still not publicised the changes to planning objections it quietly passed last month.
The petition was rejected because people only gave their e-
However, locals point out that past successful campaign petitions, backed by the council itself, to save Stornoway Coastguards and the South Uist rocket range did not impose the same stringent requirements.
The council’s changes to planning representations will result in 25% more planning applications being decided by mandarins and not elected councillors.
The Harris Sustainable Business Group (HSBG) lodged the petition last week for the closing date for The Scottish Salmon Company’s bid to anchor a large feed barge at Plocropol in the Bays of Harris.
A dormant planning application was recently activated to install six fish cages in a safe navigation channel and sheltered shellfish grounds.
Locals are angry over an attempt to more than treble the size of the salmon farm and strongly oppose the current planning application to place a large feed barge in the stunning location.
They warned it would force single-
A campaign spokesman said: “HSBG believes the Scheme of Delegation criteria may be invalid in this current situation.
“It is not possible to meet criteria set by the Western Isles Council if the public remains unaware it exists.
“As the criteria is currently still pending publication on the council’s website and as it has not been made available to the public yet, in the interests of transparency and local democracy HSBG considers it appropriate for the petition to be accepted.”
The group is continuing to accept signatures on its Save the Bays of Harris facebook page and is trying to contact petition signatories to send in their home addresses to satisfy the council.
A council spokesman said: “We did receive a petition of around 500 signatories and we acknowledged receipt. For the purposes of submitting a petition signatures are not required but postal addresses are.
“The petition contained 520 signatures and only five gave a valid address. We have now started to receive individual letters of representation with their addresses.”