Council publishes asylum centre application response letter
It's been published by High Peak Borough Council
High Peak Borough Council has published a letter on its website to address some of what it calls "mis-understandings and mis-information" around the withdrawn application by the University of Derby to use High Peak Halls in Buxton as an asylum seekers dispersal centre.
In it, the authority says:
"The Development Control Committee was due to consider the application for a Certificate of Lawful Development on Monday 7 August but the University withdrew their application just hours before the meeting was due to start.
"Had the meeting taken place, the recommendation was to refuse the application.
"Both the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, who are not members of the Development Control Committee, have called for the proposals to be scrapped...."
Leader of High Peak Borough Council, Councillor Anthony Mckeown goes on to say:
"The now withdrawn application has been the subject of much debate in the High Peak and both councillors and officers have received letters from members of the public setting out some of their thoughts on the application and the administration of it by the Council.
"To address some of the issues raised, and to clarify the Council's role, an open letter from the Executive Director responsible for planning has been published on our website.
"Given the high levels of interest in this application, we wanted to ensure this information was made available to a wide audience and I hope it clears up some of the points people have raised."
The authority say that the application referred to use of the building by "non-students" and that they only received formal clarification of the intended use at a meeting of the East Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership on 14 July.