Tonight the Council's Planning Committee met to discuss what it would have decided on the Sheen Way school planning application.
As I recently reported, the decision on Sheen Way was recently taken out of the Lib Dem-run Council's hands following its failure to make progress on the application and reach a decision. It will now be decided by the independent Planning Inspectorate. You can find out more and have your say here.
Nevertheless, the Council still had to meet to discuss and decide on the application, and tonight, following pressure from residents, Conservative councillors, Beddington North Independent Councillors and myself, a majority of the councillors decided to vote against the plan, despite some Lib Dem councillors still voting in favour of building a school on Sheen Way.
This is good news, but it is not the end of the road as the independent Planning Inspectorate still have to make a decision.
My concern is that this site still has the backing of the Lib Dem-run Council in the sense that it is allocated for school development in their Local Plan, not to mention there were Lib Dem councillors who voted in favour of the application in the face of concerns from residents, and indeed Lib Dem councillors expressed opposition to the idea to include the loss of the green space as a reason for refusal, which I believe would have strengthened the argument.
You can watch the Council's discussion here.
Remember to have your say to the independent Planning Inspectorate and sign my petition here.