Dear Planner,
re Destroyer of Enterprise & Initiative your letter dated 10th December
I am in receipt of your letter dated 10th December. I reply more in sadness and
distress, than anger. It is no coincidence that your letter asks for a reply in
14 days - your bureaucratic mind set cannot have considered the pressure that
that request puts on your customers at this time, or indeed the rationale for
any reply to any Council office which would arrive on Christmas Eve.
On the Day of Judgement when Our Creator asks 'where have all the Entrepreneurs
and Innovators gone' I shall be able to answer with honesty and nearly 30
years of bitter experience, that they were destroyed, at their own expense, and
by your planning department.
Your expertise in job destruction and innovation elimination has, over the many
years that we have been involved together, been more successful than bombing. In
both my life as an employer and my life as a preserver of the green belt I have
found myself diametrically opposed with your good self at almost every turn. My
side has always triumphed, but at serious expense, with many lost jobs &
opportunities, and much misplaced effort.
I always wonder how different this world would look had there been one more of
me and one less of you ? I like to think more akin to my road and less like your
town centre, but I leave the final judgement to historians.
I was reminded when I received your most recent letter that the last time we
corresponded on the environment it was you also accusing me then of having no
planning permission for a three acre lake which had somehow come to your notice
so long after its completion. I replied at once saying that our lake did have
planning permission, that all negotiations were with one R. C. and that the
planning permission was signed by another R. C. You chose not to give me the
courtesy of any reply and after considerable delay, and in complete frustration,
I sent all the correspondence to a local news paper. You said that you were
distressed at my attitude at that time.
Well, I am distressed at your attitude on this issue and you may notice that I
am not waiting on your decision as to whether or not you choose to reply before
I take further action. Your department has written once and had a long
conversation with my business partner. Two members of your department have
visited the site and had a long conversation with our Estate Manager and you now
seek further information from me before 'taking a view'. Most Ratepayers
would be amazed that you either need so much information, or that you have
nothing better to do with your time and our money.
The pond in question is a dew pond well denoted on any Ordinance Survey map in
enclosure no 1939 and certainly shown on my O/N map dated 1939 - just a few feet
from our lane on its West side as you approach the Ford from the South. The work
that you refer to cost less than ' 300 in total which included the hire of a
machine and the grass seed to make the ground good - I did the job myself in 22
hours. There were no other materials used. How on earth your department can
possibly imagine that that requires planning permission, or anything approaching
it, baffles everybody.
The original dew pond was created presumably without planning permission by a
higher authority even than yours. About 10 to 12 years ago I restored a natural
flow of water to the dry pond, and most recently extended it into the barren
piece of ground under the dreadful electricity pylon which specifically requires
than 'nothing grows under it' - water provides the ideal maintenance free
solution. I have done this work all on my land, at my expense and with a view to
increasing the beauty of the area. My initiative allows the many walkers we
attract down the lane to see nature in action without trespassing into its
domain or onto my land. All the passers by have remarked how much better the
area looks and I consider that my modest expenditure in time and money has been
my best purchase this year, if not forever.
You can have no idea how your constant and incompetent interference in the
efforts of others to create employment, wealth, innovation and a pleasant
environment is so counterproductive.
It is you and your work which is dragging us all down. Please get your destroyer
out of my dew pond.
All the best,
(all personal detail removed to protect the wicked)
