The Latest From The Chief Exec.
The latest response from the Chief Executive at Chelmsford City Council. Again, we’ve marked the key parts in bold:
19th November 2020
To - Save The Hamptons
I refer to your letter dated 13 November 2020. My decision to write to you is simply to ensure a coordinated response from the Council and I do not regard this as unusual.
My advice remains that the queries raised should be submitted directly to officers rather than sent to all members. This will avoid confusion and ensure any matters you wish to raise are dealt with appropriately. Furthermore, where the Committee determines applications, it will ensure any representations you wish to make are recorded and taken into consideration in the officer's report to members.
My colleagues within Development Management will contact you directly to provide further information on the planning position, but in brief the question of whether planning permission is required for the use of the building for worship and religious teaching is a matter of fact and degree. There is a difference between the more intensive use of the premises as proposed by CMS in their initial plans and the limited worship use which had been taking place before the recent lockdown. It remains the position of Council Officers that the proposed more intensive worship related use of the building as set out in correspondence received from CMS during the summer would need a formal grant of planning permission as referenced by the Planning Department in their correspondence to residents dated 23/09/2020.
In late October further information was received from CMS about the use of the premises at that time. This indicated that the community use of the building comprises mainly a range of diverse private hires of a non-religious nature and two religious elements. These are: i) use of the main hall for an act of worship on Fridays for a period of 1 – 1½ hours or thereabouts and ii) use of a room on Saturday mornings by an external organisation IQRA for hosting a youth group. This information has been considered by officers. Their conclusion is that the lawful “community building” or “community centre” use of Hamptons can accommodate a certain degree of public worship/religious instruction use provided this is limited in nature and doesn’t take on the character of a more dominant feature in the community use of the premises.
It remains the view of the Council that it would be in the best interests of CMS for an application to be submitted for the proposed use, as set out in writing by CMS to the Council during the summer.
We note your comments and proposed alternative location on Beehive Lane for the Chelmsford Muslim Society.
As you are aware, the land was under offer to the CMS, however the sale of land failed to progress as a result of attempts to re-negotiate agreed terms and not otherwise. You may be aware that this site is located within the Green Belt and as a result limited development can be undertaken.
The Council has prepared an amended development scheme which will be submitted shortly.
Yours sincerely
Nick Eveleigh
Chief Executive
Chelmsford City Council
OUR INTERPRETATION
A lot of this letter is simply a rehash of the previous response sent on 10/11/20. (read it here)
It’s clear that we are still being warned off contacting our elected councillors, which is outside of the Chief Executive’s powers. We understand perfectly how the planning system works, and since there is no live application for planning permission, there is no issue for any of you wishing to contact your elected councillors at this point.
We are waiting for a more detailed response from the Planning Department, but it’s clear that there is a deliberate attempt to confuse the issue by the council. The letter issued on 23/09/20 (below) to residents is in response to the reported breach of planning control that began on 31/07/20 (Friday prayers) and the invitation to apply for planning permission to resolve the breach is there in black and white.
These are the very same Fridays prayers that the council are now suggesting is a lawful use of the building.
Hamptons has never applied for or obtained the correct planning permission to call itself a “community centre”. It remains a privately owned sports and leisure club, as it’s always been.