BTW friend of my wife’s works in planning for our local authority and says it’s very rare indeed (at least in Jannersville) for the planning committee vote to go against the reccommendations of the council officer from planning department who reports/comments on the application. If that was the case too then double well done.
No – the planning officer recommended refusal. However most importantly we got a couple of extra reasons for refusal included in addition to those of the planning officer, one of which disputes the opinion of the county highways officer (I put my STW skills to work to prove him factually incorrect on a couple of points) – I’d imagine that is even more unusual! They should help a great deal at the appeal.
I should point out that it’s not all that unusual around here for the planning committee to refuse permission when the planning officer has recommended approval – I found a few cases like that when researching – though it’s certainly the norm to go with the planning officer’s recommendations.