sd

That isn’t meant as a statement of fact, rather a reflection of what many people have said to me over the years. I suspect most of us agree even when we have no personal experience or insider knowledge. It is an easy target and has certainly got things wrong in the past.

However, planning is always contentious. If truth be told, nobody really wants anything new built near their own home and certainly not anything bigger than what is already there. In most cases that means nothing. Stick with the status quo – don’t mess with our neighbourhood.

You even get that feeling when it is a development in the middle of nowhere because somebody, somewhere always has an objection.

So, when it involves demolition, you can imagine the outcry. Pretty much regardless of the plan. Add a touch of history and woe betide any developer no matter what their scheme.

Yet we do need new buildings, we do need to alter old sites and we do need to move forward without deleting the past. Debate is healthy but the final decision often doesn’t even lie on local hands.

On Page 20 you’ll read about the former NHS buildings in Fulwood which are set to be made into over 100 houses. They have been given the thumbs up by council officers and the complaints from residents seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

All buildings at the site are set to be taken down bar the Edwardian Old Fulwood House - built in 1911 for a well-known local family who manufactured snuff - which will be converted as part of the scheme. A minimum of 132 apartments and 29 houses will be built in their place.

There is a small chance that councillors will side with voters and refuse the plans – but that does not happen very often. Even when it does, that verdict is often overturned at a national level and the scheme goes ahead while the public are left to pay the costly bill of the extra hearings.

One final thought … oh for the days when our NHS didn’t have to sell off the family china to make ends meet. Once they’re gone, they’re gone so what will be up for sale next time there’s a desperate need for cash? Sadly, we all know the heartbreakingly painful answer to that.