Omnishambles Tory Brentwood!!!
A lighthearted look at the catalogue of errors by the Tory administration in Brentwood in the run-up to the William Hunter Way planning application renewal.
The Grammar Gaff
Tory Leader Cllr Louise McKinlay proudly announced that "I and 4 Tory colleagues have called for Full Council to debate renewed planning application" when, surely, she means "Four Tory colleagues and I...."
I and 4 Conservative colleagues have called for Full Council to debate renewed planning permission application.
- Louise McKinlay (@LouiseMcKinlay) July 31, 2013
The Leader's request is accepted,without any delay, and officers set about organising a full council meeting.
The Meeting Mash Up
Due to the timings of the planning application, which could have been foreseen three years ago, officers spend a week petitioning Lib Dem Overview & Scrutiny Chair Cllr Karen Chilvers into changing the date of her committee to ensure the full council meeting can be heard before the planning application timing starts to put the council in a vulnerable legal position due to non-determination. Only in the event of an emergency should meetings agreed at the start of the year be changed.
Relunctantly, and for the good of Brentwood residents only, Cllr Chilvers concedes and the full council meeting is set for Wednesday 11th September with O&S now the following week.
The Legal Loophole
After the moving of the O&S meeting, a couple of weeks later, and following a counsel's opinion, it transpires that the planning application CAN NOT be heard at full council as this clouds the authority's powers as a planning authority and a council.
This means that now the 11th September meeting will be a Planning meeting and there was absolutely no necessity to move O&S because it could have been added to the agenda on 3rd September!
Although there was one other item on the agenda regarding the Town Hall, this was not time sensitive and could have been decided at full council on 23d October 2013.
The Pointless Planning meeting
Although members were to discuss the planning application, they are constantly told by officers that nothing has changed so it should just be approved (impartial advice?) despite members pointing out that, in four and a half years, a number of thing have changed including new national planning guidelines.
Brentwood North Councillors make their frustration known and outlines some of the things that now affect the application - it falls on deaf Tory ears.
The vote is won by the Conservatives to grant a two year extension eight votes to seven.
The farcical full council item
Under the new constitution adopted by the council says that "information items" are not to be brought to council meetings and, yet, the item on the William Hunter Way application is only an information point. Cllr Barry Aspinell questions this but, as usual, the constitution is bent to the will of the Tories.
The agenda item consists of two sides of A4 paper with no new information - members are to debate this and then "vote to note". In the end, many opposition members cast their vote as "against the farce".
The Tories keep telling us that the deal with the developer is almost signed and loads of things have moved on - Cllr Graeme Clark asks what exactly and it "all goes quiet over there".
The case of the missing agenda
On looking on her iPad for the meeting's agenda, Cllr Karen Chilvers notes that the agenda for the meeting is not there. Agendas must be published five days before the meeting or it can not be held. It looked like we might have been holding an illegal meeting that will have to be abandoned. Officers have to run off and check and the meeting is held up for ten minutes.
But there IS an explanation...
Confidential matters - read all about it!
It transpires that the agenda was taken down briefly in the afternoon and not put back on the website. Why? Because the council had published confidential, commercially senstive information and it had to be removed. Certainly something that wasn't going to be shared with members!