The Council withdrew the Listed Bulding Application it had submitted to itself to regularise the design of the stall, and to which many of you submitted very encouraging support comments. No reason was ever given for this.
Following the withdrawal I spoke several times to the Council's cabinet (the senior elected representatives) at their bi-monthly meetings, asking them to intervene to ensure that published Council policy was being correctly followed. These meetings are attended also by the Chief Executive of the Council and the Council solicitor. The Tory prospective parliamentary candidate for Bath also wrote directly to the Chief Executive.
Month after month they declined to intervene. I finally asked that they either "put up or shut up" either take enforcement action against the stall in line with council policy, or formally withdraw their objection to the stall.
This was a course of action that had been requested by Bath's sitting MP and the local ward councillor three years ago, and one which the Planning Officers had continually refused to consider.
In November they finally did follow their own procedures and took a report to DC committee seeking authority to take enforcement action against the stall. After a brief discussion, DC committee voted by 8 votes to 2 against authorising enforcement action.
We are very grateful to members of the committee for seeing sense in this matter.
