The local council chamber is like something from the European parliament: whizzy microphones at every chair, individual name plates and biggest plasma screen you ever did see.  I'm glad my council tax is well spent.

There were around 60 members of the public crammed round the edges waiting for the meeting.  Item 1 was defered due to the lack of some accurate decibel data - and forty or so folk left in disgust, having travelled about 30 miles to be there.  One or two applications had speakers - allowed exactly 3 minutes each, and one recommendation was overturned (from accept to reject) after an elected councillor had waffled for 10 minutes on why it should not be passed (no three minute rule for him).

Ours took all of five minutes to get rejected, of which four and a half minutes was the man from the council presenting it.  There were no real grounds for rejection, indeed the stated reasons contradicted each other: the bottom line was they didn't want to approve it full stop.  Now we and our long suffering architect have to decide 'what next' - we meet all the requirements apart from keeping the old 'barn' going, which is what the planners want. 

So there we have it.  At least I only had a 2 mile journey home and could call at the chip shop for a late tea before switching on my PC.  Really must get one of those giant plasma screens before the next church meeting though..!