Alarm over Site Visits

This exchange was prompted by the arrival of details about the way the Inspector will conduct his examination which contained the following sentence in para 33:

Site Visits.
I shall visit all those sites and areas referred to in the representations either before, during, or after the hearings.

LETTER TO INSPECTOR:

Thank you for your emails and for the attached documents.

I am confused by the references to site visits contained in paragraph 33 of the Briefing Note from the Inspector and in item 2 of the agenda for the Pre Examination Meeting

The Inspector has repeatedly stated that he is not dealing with any specific sites. I would therefore be very grateful if you would clarify exactly which sites he intends to visit and the purpose of these visits in the context of the Inspector's brief.

Yours sincerely,
Catherine Sayer

THE REPLY:

Mr Vickery has asked me to inform you that the wording in paragraph 33 of his Briefing Notes is quite deliberate and correct. As he has representations which mention specific sites and areas, he would be failing in his duty to thoroughly examine the Core Strategy if he did not see these sites.

What he does about them is entirely another matter and he has already given a strong public indication at the Exploratory Meeting (EM) of the likely outcome in his Report, and does not intend to say anything more. He did not make any statement at the EM that he would not visit the sites or areas mentioned in representations made on the Core Strategy.
Yours sincerely,

Pauline Butcher
LDF PROGRAMME OFFICER