Councillors from outside Weston

HOW can this planning sub-committee made up of five councillors from outside Weston be allowed to decide on such an important application for a Street Traders Licence in the Weston town centre which effects the town such a lot.

I am referring to the one granted to Pastime Pantry to open up in front of the old Woolworth store.

In spite of objections from just about everybody in the food trade in Weston who are already trading in legitimate retail outlets in the surrounding area, have done so for years and now are to face this unfair competition.

This planning sub-committee has ignored strong objections from The Town Centre Partnership, who I thought were the one organisation who would have been consulted by this sub-planning committee of the North Somerset Council, and of course Weston's own Weston Town council objections.

How can this be allowed, surely this decision had to also be agreed by the full council?

I am sure that if an application is turned down that the applicant can appeal but what can anybody do who has objected if an application is approved?

Here we have a case where this new temporary street trader only has to pay �2,600 a year which for such a valuable pitch is peanuts but our existing food shops have to pay thousands of pounds, in one case �16,000 and now they have to face competition which has been created by our own council who should be supporting our local shops.

But the more galling thing is no local councillors were involved in giving the approval. How is it this application having met with so much opposition and objections should have been put before a small sub-committee and not full council planning? Didn't they think there would not be an outcry?

Is it too late? Can this permission be withdrawn? Cannot commonsense prevail? Can the council not realise there has been an error made in letting this go through?

LAURENCE F ORME

Shrubbery Avenue, Weston