Three Penrith West town councillors decline to take part in council debate and voting on two planning applications

Three Penrith West town councillors decline to take part in council debate and voting on two planning applications.

Penrith Town council at its AGM considered two planning applications for the Omega Proteins plant located in the Penrith West ward.

The applications for the formation of a new roadway and for a new Anaerobic digestion facility with gas to grid transmission pipeline, to produce bio gas to be used in the national grid gas network.

Penrith Town Council is only a consultee on planning applications and hold no powers on determining planning applications. All planning applications are decided by the local planning authority for the are now the new Westmorland and Furness council.

The members of the town council debated and voted on the councils consultee response to the applications.

However all three of the Penrith West Town councillors Cllr H Snell, Cllr B Jason, Cllr J Thomson, opted to not take part in the debates or vote on the two applications in the ward the three were recently elected to represent as town councillors in the May 4th local elections.

The town council voted to give no opinion on the first of the applications for the formation of a roadway.

The remaining council members voted to object to the new Anaerobic digestion facility with gas to grid transmission pipeline.

The applications will be decided on by Westmorland and Furness council who can choose to take into consideration the town council views on the applications as part of the decision making process.

Westmorland and Furness Councils Eden area planning committee, will meet for the first time on Wednesday morning at Penrith Town Hall and will be asked to approve based on the officer recommendations an application for a solar farm on land next to the omega site that was originally submitted to Eden council and has faced delays in a decision of almost two years having been submitted in August 2021.