THE stand-off between a Liverpool businessman and Wirral Council’s planning department over redevelopment of the King’s Gap Court Hotel, in Hoylake, looks suspiciously like the collision of an irresistible force and an immovable object.
On the face of it, it all hinges on the legal technicality as to whether a revised planning application is so far removed from the original as to result in the whole process going back to the beginning.
Of course not, says the businessman, Simon Matthews-Williams. It would not happen in Liverpool or Chester, he reckons, so why should it have to happen in Wirral?
Mr Matthews-Williams has gone public with some vehemence over his problems with Wirral council, and he seems to have a case that needs to be answered.
The council, in its turn, has argued that it is under a legal duty to start the process over again, given the nature of the planned revisions, and furthermore states that Mr Matthews-Williams has not so far taken up the offer of a discussion with the head of development control.
Council red tape or necessary checks and balances? Perhaps it depends on which direction you are coming from, with Hoylake residents and voters left bemused by the war of words.
We cannot see why it should not be the case that both sides have a valid point.
If the law is clear enough, then there is nothing to be gained, and a lot to be lost, by trying to steamroller the application though without due diligence.
But, whatever the finer legal arguments, we can understand Mr Matthews-Williams’s frustration. A speedy decision is essential.
