New row over plan to bulldoze row of historic buildings in Brockenhurst

Objectors were hoping to persuade members of the New Forest National Park Authority (NPA) to reject proposals to demolish a "rare example" of early 20th century shops.

But they were literally silenced - by last-minute technical problems that prevented them from taking part in an online meeting of the planning committee.

Now formal complaints have been made to the authority following its decision to approve the application.

A statement issued by some of the objectors after the meeting said: "Technical issues with the NPA’s Microsoft Teams system prevented all parties from exercising their democratic right by speaking at the committee. Instead they had to quickly submit a written statement which was read out during the meeting."

• Anger over plans to bulldoze row of century-old shops

The statement also accused NPA members of "pushing aside" objections raised by Brockenhurst Parish Council and not undertaking "due diligence".

NPA planning chief Steve Avery apologised and said he was willing to appear before parish councillors to discuss the concerns they had over online meetings.

He said: "We go to great lengths to make sure people can join our virtual meetings, setting up trial meetings in advance of the Planning Committee meeting itself to test connections and to allow speakers to familiarise themselves with the Teams system.

"In this case, not all the invitations we sent out inviting participants to partake in the trial meetings were taken up.  
"We also ask speakers to let us have their comments in writing before the Planning Committee meeting in case they experience any connection problems and we can then read these out at the meeting, which we did in this case.  
"We are sorry that the Parish Council were not able to speak at the meeting and since the decision was taken a couple of residents have lodged formal complaints with the Authority and these are now being dealt with under our complaints procedure.

"Ultimately if  the complainants remain unhappy, they can then refer their case to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO).

"We are fully aware that virtual meetings aren’t ideal, especially as there are connection issues in the Forest but they remain our only option for the time being. We have now held six virtual Planning Committee meetings to date and these have generally gone well and allow the planning service to continue to operate in the National Park. 
"I would be very happy to attend a future Parish Council meeting to discuss any of these concerns."
The application to redevelop the site sparked more than 20 letters of objection.

According to the Brockenhurst Conservation Area Character Appraisal the buildings are a rare surviving example of small shops built in the early part of the last century and should be preserved.

A report to NPA members said the shops' "quirky design" contributed to the character of the village but stressed that their condition had deteriorated over a long period of time.

It added: "The proposed building would, subject to appropriate landscaping, not have a harmful impact on the character and appearance of the conservation area."