Blundering council sends planning notification letters to empty mill

Chairman of the High Salvington Windmill board Tom Wye said the blunders prevented members from speaking at the original application for Mr Hunt’s home and the decision should not have stood.

He said: “The letter from the council was addressed to owners/occupiers, Salvington Mill, Furze Road. May I say that the council are the owners of the mill and the site has not been occupied for at least 50 years.

“Even when that mistake was notified to the planning department, they compounded their error by sending my letter of notification about this meeting to Tom Wye, Salvington Mill, Furze Road.”

In his speech to the committee, Mr Wye, like many others, were stopped as they went over their two-minute time limit.

Less than impressed, he remarked: “I’m trying to sum up 400 years of history in two minutes.”

The board is exploring the possibility of calling a judicial review over the original decision, made in 2013.

He warned that if developments made the mill inoperable, many volunteers would walk away, leaving the council to take over its maintenance.

In response to the blunder, a council spokesman said all legal guidelines had been followed but would not make the error again.

He said: “While the windmill in Salvington is not be a residential address, it does have an ‘address point’ in the same way that a local business would, which is why it received information germane to the planning application.

“We are now aware of direct contact details for those involved with the trust so we will be able to send consultation letters directly to them to ensure they have the opportunity to comment on relevant proposals.”