David Peters - Chair of Natland Parish Council has requested that the following post is published in response to post supplied by Simon Catnach on 5 May:
There is an allegation involving the Parish Council in Simon Catnach's letter which I must refute. He pleads a late change in the Parish Council's position and subsequent lack of time as the excuse for focusing almost exclusively on plot R679M (the field behind the Charnley Fold and Hawes Lane houses).
Broad information about the Land Allocations 'Emerging Options' consultation was in the public domain from 1 December 2010 and full information, including the 'settlement fact files', was published by 21 January. The official consultation period extended from 21 January to 15 April 2011 but responses are apparently still being accepted.
How the Parish Council moved to its current viewpoint is briefly summarised in its Annual Report, recently delivered to every household in the parish, as follows: "In December 2005 the Council had agreed to support an option in a ‘Core Strategy’ consultation document which identified Natland as a 'local service centre' that would: "provide a more limited range of services [than the 'key service centres'] to the local community, where small scale development will be permitted to help sustain local services, meet local needs, or support local businesses". There was a full debate at the 2008 Annual Parish Meeting which carried a motion accepting reasonable development that respected the character of the village and its setting. During 2008-09 the Council responded to another ‘Core Strategy’ discussion paper by opposing all ‘directions of growth’ except for west of Natland and south of Oxenholme (but within Natland civil parish). The ‘Core Strategy’ document was finally adopted by SLDC in October 2010."
Therefore the Parish Council's response to 'Emerging Options', in not rejecting outright the possible development of sites on the western fringe of Natland, is entirely consistent with its previous responses and did not "become apparent at a relatively late stage" as Simon alleges.