Shhhhh …. Comment Deadline Extension For Wind Farm Application

We spotted on the news alerts earlier that IW Radio reporting an extension to the comment deadline for the Vectis Wind Farm application.

Shhh signHaving checked the planning website, the council’s main website and their Facebook page, we could find no reference to the extension.

So we wrote to the council press office to ask whether they could confirm the extension.

Almost uniquely, a reply came back within two minutes,

“Following a number of requests from town and parish councils for extra time to comment on the Wellow wind turbine planning application the period of consultation has been extended until Friday 12 August 2011.”

Why keep it quiet?
Great news for those who still wish to comment, but it begs the question – why are the council waiting for the media to ask them about this, rather than issue a press release? Afterall, they’ve known about it all day, but haven’t actively informed the media.

This is a contentious application that has attracted many comments already. Surely news of any public consultation extension should have been actively promoted.

Otherwise, how on earth are the public supposed to know about it?

Image: ecastro under CC BY 2.0