WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones has called for an outside expert to review the borough’s planning department which she claims is a “shambles.”
She says people have “lost faith” in its credibility, and has asked the interim chief executive Steven Broomhead for an expert to look at its operation and recommend improvements. She claims lessons have not been learned.
She said: “Enforcement is a continuing problem and my constituents have simply lost confidence in the planning process. That situation does no one any good. Internal efforts are not enough to sort out this shambles.”
Ms Jones (pictured right) said that over the years she has seen “too many” mistakes by the department.
She said: “Years ago, I took up a complaint about housing which was built as affordable housing being sold to people who already had a house. It was then rented out in the private rented sector, depriving someone of a home of their own.
“Then we had the fiasco over Marton Close where documents had been destroyed, including documents that the council had a statutory duty to hold. Residents had to fight for years for justice and the ombudsman found an ‘extraordinary and inexcusable act of maladministration.’ No one seems to have been held to account.”
She also cited Peel Hall where the council said they had only met developers once. Following a Freedom of Information request it was revealed there had been six meetings in eight months.
“Council officers said that they had not seen the plans for the whole development but this statement is at odds with the notes of the meetings. Who was responsible for the misleading statement?” she said.
“Yet the problems continue. Residents in Petersfield Gardens have complained about a ‘lack of fair play’ by planning officers because no enforcement has been carried out despite the development management committee insisting there should be,” she added.
She also said a constituent had been passed from “pillar to post” when trying to get a piece of land in Locking Stumps designated as a village green. He had spent a year and spoke to the department more than a dozen times without success, before contacting the MP.
Cllr Terry O’Neill, leader of the council said: “The door is always open for the MP to come to the town hall and discuss her concerns about any council service directly with myself, the chief executive or anyone else she wishes. However at this time it is difficult to say much more as we are not yet in receipt of this letter.”
MP calls for expert to review planning shambles
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
12 Comments
It would appear that Ms Jones has no more faith in her Labour colleagues on the council than the rest of us.
It doesn’t need a review. It needs somebody within WBC to manage the people involved. My opinion is that at least one person was guilty of gross misconduct during the Marton Close and records destruction fiasco and should have been sacked. The only lesson that needs to be learned is that if council employees break the law or deliberately mislead councillors and residents, they will be sacked. That principle is no different in any other organisation and I don’t know whey we need yet another review to change things.
Info. in the public domain shows all three principal planners knew planning records had been destroyed. Does anyone really believe just these three officers plus Messrs Stephenson and Earle who admitted knowing, kept it under wraps from 2006 through to 2010/11 when the Ombudsman began ferreting around? Others senior and not just planners knew of the mass and selective destruction of records. Kevin Reynolds was right to press for a Police investigation. Left to their own devices the others were always going to close ranks, tough it out in the hope it would all be forgotten. Helen Jones is to be complimented in bringing this back where it belongs until it is properly settled by a thorough investigation in which those who were or could have been involved play no part other than to give evidence under oath. The fingerprints of unhealthy interference of the others are there to be seen in the report of the supposed independent transparent public inquiry which was intended to restore the integrity of the Council. If you doubt this compare the report with the Ombudsman’s findings which the Council accepted entirely.
Absolutely. This was only ever going to be sorted by dealing with the individuals responsible but the council took the easy way of looking at policies, systems and processes followed up by a predictable statement about ‘lessons learned’. Self-evidently that won’t work with people who we know for a fact ignore policies, systems and processes. And if they want a lesson to be learned, the sight of somebody clearing their desk will make sure it isn’t forgotten. If there is to be a review, it has to have a broad remit, be subject to no approvals from the people it affects and simply tell it like it is. The fact that the council’s own inquiry on most of the pertinent told us less than was already in the public domain is the giveaway about what is happening.
Warrington’s legal services team ensured the independent enquiry was watered down to a meaningless excercise. The original report was passed back to the barrister and it came back to Warrington totally watered down. This is a FACT & senior people know this.
This will not be resolved by making a scapegoat of the somebody (singular) clearing their desk. The roots of this deception, because that is what has been and is being practiced on the people of Warrington, go too deep and spread much wider than just the planners for them to be cleansed by the sacreficial somebody. Somehow it has to be got home that honesty and reasonableness lead to trust and that trust will never be restored until there is a step change in the behaviour of officers. The sight of members standing back waiting for this to happen, rather than trying to bring this about is what we are seeing at the moment and it is a sad reflection on just how far the pendulum of power has been allowed to swing in Warrington.
Do the planning and enforcement problems that Helen Jones MP complains of only occur in her part of the constituency? Surely the planners and their mates raise the anger of the people in the other half of the constituency? If they don’t it is a strange coincidence. If they do why does our other MP not take up the cause? If both MPs tackled the long running problem together it might get it sorted quicker.
If this is true then we need answers. It’s obvious that the current leadership want a quiet life. Why is that they wont take action to restore trust in the Planning process? Was there gross misconduct and who was responsible? Why were the senior Councillors scared of dealing with any individuals responsible? This will not go away until OUR Councillors act! Thank you Mrs Jones for bringing this matter back into the public arena. We now await a response from WBC.
Good question, Tina. It might look a bit like the old North/South divide is being played out right under our noses. Has there been no complaints about planning from the South side?
The planning department deals with hundreds of applications. Isn’t the clue in this story in the “Years ago…” bit? Old news most of it (and I hear that none of the officers implicated in the destruction of records now works for the authority).
If you read the report into the destruction of records, & the LGO report you will find that current officers of both the Planning Dept & Legal Services were implicated, and were aware of the unlawful destruction of records, but said nothing for years. Secondly MP Helen Jones is talking about current problems, ‘the problems continue’ is a big hint??
You are missing the point. What better way of “arranging things to one’s advantage” is there than to conceal it amongst an apparently mass destruction of records. As for being old news, it is still very much with us. Although the Council accepted the Ombudsman’s report completely the Inquiry it asked officers to organize looked no further than the events of 2006. I do not think all those who would be implicated in the destruction and the subsequent cover up from 2006 to 2011 will have left the authority.It also depends what you mean by ‘implicated’? There is no doubt some who were around and knew of the shredding remain.