A WARD councillor explained why she had wanted a decision about an application for wind turbines in Oxenhope to be decided by the Keighley and Shipley Area Planning Panel.
Coun Rebecca Poulsen told Oxenhope Parish councillors last Wednesday (Jan 7) that she felt there had been compelling arguments both for and against the scheme at Old Oxenhope Farm.
She said she felt it would make more sense for the application to be debated and decided in a meeting held in public, rather than just dealt with by a council planning officer.
Late last year the planning panel voted in favour of the proposal for the two, 18-metre high turbines, despite a planning officer recommending refusal.
Responding to a query voiced by parish councillor Derrick Hopkinson, coun Poulsen said she had been unable to attend the planning panel, as the date for this meeting was changed so that it clashed with her teaching work.
Coun Hopkinson said he was concerned that the panel had not taken into account the turbines' impact on the landscape. "Nobody even talked about the site itself and I therefore presume that none of them visited the site," he added.
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