FAQs
What kind of planning application has Acorn made?
Strictly speaking, Acorn has applied for an Environmental Impact Assessment. The aim of an Environmental Impact Assessment application is to protect the environment by ensuring that a local planning authority, when deciding whether to grant planning permission for a project like this - one likely to have significant effects on the environment - does so in the full knowledge of the likely significant effects, and takes them into account in the decision making process.
With that in mind, it’s really important that we do everything we can before November, while the application is still live and before the decision makers are due to decide one way or another.
Who are the decision makers?
West Northamptonshire Council planning committee are responsible for deciding whether or not planning permission should be granted for the project.
Councillor Stephen Clarke (Chair): stephen.clarke@westnorthants.gov.uk
Councillor Ken Pritchard (Vice-Chair): ken.pritchard@westnorthants.gov.uk
Councillor Anthony S. Bagot-Webb: anthony.bagot-webb@westnorthants.gov.uk
Councillor Dermot Bambridge: dermot.bambridge@westnorthants.gov.uk
Councillor William Barter: william.barter@westnorthants.gov.uk
Councillor Maggie Clubley: maggie.clubley@westnorthants.gov.uk
Councillor Karen Cooper: karen.cooper@westnorthants.gov.uk
Councillor Alison Eastwood: alison.eastwood@westnorthants.gov.uk
Councillor Sue Sharps: sue.sharps@westnorthants.gov.uk
We encourage objections to be emailed to them! Meanwhile, the case officer for the application is Saffron Loasby, who may be reached on 01327 322108 and at planning.SNC@westnorthants.gov.uk: it is her role to make recommendations on the proposal to the planning committee.
Although she may begin assessing the application when it arrives, she cannot make a full assessment of the proposal until after the consultation period has ended, as she will take into account any representations made by consultation respondents. So it’s important we respond!
She will then complete a full evaluation of the application, assessing it against all relevant planning policies in the local development plan, before making her recommendations to the planning committee that planning permission is either granted or refused.
Can I still object?
We encourage everyone to sign the petition we’ve created on Change.org. You can also email all the councillors directly, using the emails above - and we encourage everyone to do so! (It’s also worth bearing in mind that there are some issues the council’s planning committee are obliged to consider - and others they aren’t! You can see the full list here. For example, they will disregard any comment relating to house prices and private views being impacted.)
What happens if planning permission is granted?
We hope it won’t come to that, but if it does, the next step is legal action. We would have 6 weeks from the decision date to lodge a judicial review claim. So be it!
What can I do to help?
We have created a number of fliers to distribute round local villages - please do get in touch if you would like to help with this!
If there’s anything we’ve missed or that is unclear, please do let us know and we’ll try to resolve the issue as soon as we can!