Mr Fitzgerald Bond may well be pleased with his headline grabbing ideas (see County Press) for using airships to transport goods to and from the island, but some of us are certainly less than impressed by our local councillor – particularly with his questionable involvement in local planning applications (read the full history on the VentnorBlog Planning Peculiarities Forum.)
In case you’ve not been following this one – the first application to develop the old St Joseph’s Care Home was refused by the Development Control Committee on three counts. Minimal changes were made and the application resubmitted. There was great shock amongst the local residents when the planning department took it upon themselves to approve the reapplication without a bothersome public airing (choosing delegated powers instead).
But let’s go back to Mr Fitzgerald Bond … as a ward councillor, isn’t his role to listen to his constituents and represent their views?
So why is it that, despite the huge opposition locally against the Bunbury Michael Jennings development of St Joseph’s Care Home, he gave no objection?
During a telephone conversation earlier this year, when Mr FB was questioned about the validity of the Victorian wall being demolished to make way for a ‘Dallas’ style drive, his response was along the lines of “well it’s just made of breeze blocks.”
Dear oh dear Mr FB. Despite your site visit, you must have very poor eye sight to mistake a clearly Victorian wall for breeze blocks.
To the sadness of the local residents, the wall was demolished this week and the bank behind it excavated, to make way for something like this ….
Hardly fits in with the surrounding, Victorian area does it?
Reading this, you might not believe it, but Madeira Road is actually within the Ventnor Conservation Area.
It’s hard to understand how this barbaric destruction could have been approved by the Planning and Conservation departments, despite the advice to the contrary from the Highways department regarding the creation of a drive in Madeira Road (consistently ignored at every stage of the planning process) and that it’s in the narrowest part of the road creating a potential danger.
Despite all of this Mr Fitzgerald Bond, the wards councillor, said he saw no reason why it shouldn’t go ahead.
The most puzzling part is Mr Fitzgerald Bond involvement in the approval process at all. He had omitted himself from the initial Ventnor town council decision after he “declared an interest” in the project (quote from the official record).
Nice to see you giving your full support to your constituents!
By the way, does anyone know when the next local elections are?
Postscript: A couple of readers have asked why we’ve put this on the blog. Beyond being residents in Madeira Road, we think that what has gone on with this case is wrong.
