Aerospace company's move to Cranfield Airport would be 'a travesty and a disaster' says angry resident

An angry resident has claimed that without a leafleting campaign objecting to Marshall Aerospace’s planned move to Cranfield it would have already been agreed.

Speaking at Cranfield Parish Council (Wednesday, March 15) resident Gary Dooley said this would have been a “travesty and a disaster”.

But a Central Beds Councillor said that comments on the plans will be accepted by the council until the day before a decision is made by its planning committee.

Another resident said one of the issues is that residents are not “planning professionals”.

“We need someone professional to scrutinise this and say this is wrong, this is right, this is what you need to do,” he said.

“We are all just talking as a bunch of amateurs against Marshall’s billions of dollars.”

Parish councillor Delise Ball (chairman) said: “I think everybody needs to understand where the parish council sits in this. We are not, and I underline that, we are not the planning authority, so we then have to look to the planning authority which is Central Beds.

“They will have asked [professionals] to look at this and they are the professionals in planning. They’re the ones that are scrutinising it for all of us.”

Mr Dooley said: “Residents are still unaware of all the issues with the applicants, within the application, and how it is progressing. We have no idea whether any of the issues [raised by objectors] are being properly considered.

“There is no response from the applicant to defend the issues raised and therefore it can be assumed that either the objections are correct or the applicants not being given the chance to defend their application,” he said.

Central Bedfordshire councillor Sue Clark (Conservative, Cranfield and Marston Moretaine) said: “All comments that are submitted to the planning authority for any planning application are always considered by the planning officer, and the planning officer has to address those in his or her report that accompanies their recommendation.

“If they think that they are valid comments that haven’t been addressed by theApplicants they then request more information from the applicant. That’s what happened in this case, they’ve requested more information.”

Councillor Clark explained that comments are accepted up until the day before the Development Management Committee (planning committee) determines an application.

More information on Marshall’s planning application can be found on Central Bedfordshire Council’s planning portal, reference 22/04299/OUT.