English Yokel

Local Bureaucracy

Yokel is livid.

In Yokel's village, the Parish Council has been consulted by the District Council, and they have agreed changes to the Conservation Area. And now Yokel has been told that his home is to be included in the area. Its part of a "nice row of houses"! Although they say that they "don't have to undertake public consultation" they are going to go through the motions. Any comments will be added to the officer's report and put to the Cabinet, and then it will be a topic at a full Council meeting. Of course, the fact that Yokel deliberately chose to live outside the then existing Conservation Area when he moved to the village over 25 years ago is no consolation!

This is democracy Soviet style. We, the State, have the power. We, the State, will wield the power. We, the State, will pretend that it is the people that are wielding the power, but will make it impossible for the proletariat to have any effect.

Yokel will shortly be going away to read PPG15 to find out what else he will be forbidden from doing. His starting point is the brief explanatory leaflet which emphasises that Conservation Area status is an added restriction above and beyond all the other restrictions that apply anyway. So far it tells Yokel that he needs extra permission from his District Council for:

• demolition of all, or in some case part, of any building or structure
• an extension greater than 50 cu metres or 10% of the volume as the building stood on 1 July 1948
• cladding any part of the outside of a building with materials such as stone, artificial stone, timber, plastic or tile
• any addition or alteration to the shape of a roof, such as the addition of a dormer window
• an extension or alteration to any structure within the grounds of a building, with a cubic content greater than 10 cu metres, such as a garden shed
• positioning a satellite dish on a wall, roof or chimney that faces a road or public space
• work on any tree greater than 7.5 cm diameter at 1.5 metres above ground level

But it also tells Yokel that the list is not exhaustive. It also helpfully advises that exemptions do exist, so check with the local planning authority for guidance.

Yet another example of State interference where it has no place. But then we have had Socialist governments ins various hues of red and blue since 1945. Yokel is just having difficulty in coming to terms with the betrayal by his "representatives". He supposes that it is no different, except in scale, from the betrayal of the great European Union project.

Yokel remains livid. A sit down is called for.