Plans chief should quit, says MP

WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones is calling on a senior council officer to resign immediately following what she describes as an “outrageous” failure by the authority’s planning department.
She is calling for the resignation of Andy Farrall, the council executive director of environment and regeneration.
Ms Jones has learned from local councillors that the controversial planning application by Satnam Developments to build 150 homes at Peel Hall will not now be heard by the borough council’s planning committee.
Satnam have lodged an appeal against the “non-determination” of their application.
Councils have eight weeks from the date an application is submitted to bring the matter before the planning committee.
They are entitled to apply for an extension to 13 weeks, but in this case Warrington Council has failed to do so.
This has left the authority outside of the eight week time frame without the application having been brought before councillors.
This means the matter is likely to be heard at public inquiry, although a date for the hearing has yet to be determined.
Bizarrely, the council propose to bring the matter before the March meeting of the Development Management Committee, so that councillors can pass a resolution on how they “would” have determined the application had they been able to, says Ms Jones.
She added: “This is an outrageous failure by the planning department and a breach of trust with local people. The application to develop Peel Hall is so high profile, I cannot believe that it was simply ‘overlooked’ by the department.
“Now, they have effectively lost the right for this application to be determined locally. I shall be writing to the Chief Executive calling for a thorough investigation and for disciplinary action to be taken against whoever is responsible.
“However, the buck must stop at the top. Senior officers are paid large salaries and must take responsibility when things go wrong. For this reason, I call on Andy Farrall, Executive Director of Environment and Regeneration, to resign. Someone must take responsibility for this fiasco and for the fact that local people have lost trust in this department.”