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UPDATED: Housing opponents swamped by up to THIRTY identical letters through their doors after council computer glitch
The Hampden Fields action group delivers objections to the council last month
A council computer glitch has seen hundreds of unwanted letters sent to objectors to plans for 3,000 new homes.
Letters are being sent to each of the 4,379 people who objected to the Hampden Fields plan, which proposes building between Bedgrove and Weston Turville.
However, some residents have received multiple copies of the same letter, with one household reportedly getting 30.
Aylesbury Vale District Council said a technical issue meant some people who had objected to the original Hampden Fields plan and the revised plan, submitted late last year, had received two letters, one for each objection. The council says the error cost it £151.
However, this does not explain why some people have got so many.
One Weston Turville resident said: “There’s only two of us here who objected. If the problem is as they say we should have got four letters at the most, but we got nine.
“The postman said he had just been to a house where he delivered 30 identical letters.
“They’re not addressed to anyone, it just says ‘to the occupier’.
“It’s such a waste of money. Next thing we’ll get a letter saying how much the council tax has gone up.”
Another resident said: “I am incredulous. The postman has just delivered 10 identical letters. I’m lost for words.”
The council apologised to households that have received extra letters, saying the problem had been identified before all the letters were sent out. It said 500 additional letters were sent out which should not have been, costing 31p each.
Although the Planning Inspectorate has agreed to hear the applicants’ appeal over the Hampden Fields plan, the council’s planning committee must still meet to discuss and vote on the plan. This meeting is due to take place on April 10.
The Hampden Fields consortium applied for non-determination by the council because it wants the plan to be heard by an inspector at the same time as the appeal to build 2,745 homes in Fleet Marston, a proposal which was originally thrown out by councillors.
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Tuesday 18 June 2013
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