Planning Nightmare
Discussion
Equus said:
If I'm honest, it wasn't the indiscretion that bothered me - it was the fact that he (and, he claimed, other Members of the Committee) were taking Planning decisions other than on the grounds of Planning policy and merit.
Unfortunately, as you'd expect, the rest of the committee closed ranks; Colin himself refused to speak to the investigation or even attend the hearing, as I understand it, and hence it has not been possible to identify who the other Members he referred to were.
I'm not sure if the Local Authority has fully recognised the seriousness of the issue - it's about an elected Member taking decisions, essentially based on personal favouritism.
If it were up to me, he'd have be dismissed as a Councillor, barred from ever holding office with the Authority again, and referred to the police/CPS for investigation of Misconduct in Public Office (which is a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment).
That may seem draconian, but there is little enough public faith in the Planning system as it is, so where such (thankfully rare) abuses as this come to light, we need to come down on them hard.
I’ve just come across this thread for the first time but well done and thanks for taking the action you did. It is so important that the planning system is discharged properly and, in too many occasions in my career, the planning committee has been the weak link in the chain. It’s all too easy for us as professionals to swear under our breath and treat it as the unavoidable overhead of the system, so good for you for properly addressing a clear failingUnfortunately, as you'd expect, the rest of the committee closed ranks; Colin himself refused to speak to the investigation or even attend the hearing, as I understand it, and hence it has not been possible to identify who the other Members he referred to were.
I'm not sure if the Local Authority has fully recognised the seriousness of the issue - it's about an elected Member taking decisions, essentially based on personal favouritism.
If it were up to me, he'd have be dismissed as a Councillor, barred from ever holding office with the Authority again, and referred to the police/CPS for investigation of Misconduct in Public Office (which is a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment).
That may seem draconian, but there is little enough public faith in the Planning system as it is, so where such (thankfully rare) abuses as this come to light, we need to come down on them hard.
blueg33 said:
I like your strategy about call in to the inspectorate rather than have politicians grandstanding over a development proposal.
Well, if I can find the time for it in the coming year, I'm toying with the idea of setting up a 'National Planning Users Group', to (among other things) lobby central Government on Planning issues, monitor the performance of individual authorities (by means of FOI requests, etc.), support stakeholders who have experienced poor or inconstant service and take offending/under-performing LPA's to task.Give me a shout via my profile, if you think your company might be interested in being involved.
Equus said:
blueg33 said:
I like your strategy about call in to the inspectorate rather than have politicians grandstanding over a development proposal.
Well, if I can find the time for it in the coming year, I'm toying with the idea of setting up a 'National Planning Users Group', to (among other things) lobby central Government on Planning issues, monitor the performance of individual authorities (by means of FOI requests, etc.), support stakeholders who have experienced poor or inconstant service and take offending/under-performing LPA's to task.Give me a shout via my profile, if you think your company might be interested in being involved.
blueg33 said:
Equus said:
blueg33 said:
I like your strategy about call in to the inspectorate rather than have politicians grandstanding over a development proposal.
Well, if I can find the time for it in the coming year, I'm toying with the idea of setting up a 'National Planning Users Group', to (among other things) lobby central Government on Planning issues, monitor the performance of individual authorities (by means of FOI requests, etc.), support stakeholders who have experienced poor or inconstant service and take offending/under-performing LPA's to task.Give me a shout via my profile, if you think your company might be interested in being involved.
The LPDF members would probably be interested too, I think their policy lobbying arm try to do something similar.
Ian Geary said:
Well done Equus for seeing it through, and for updating the thread!
Sadly, I've just had an email directly from ColinM50 in response to my query on this thread, saying (in full, and unedited; my bold):ColinM50 said:
Yes, sorry to tell you Equus, that despite you stamping your feet and throwing your toys out of your pram all they could do was recommend that I resign from the committee.
Which I didn't and won't do.
I'm sure your'e happy to have wasted loads of the councils money on that issue. Did you know they even hired a barrister to progress it?. So well done to you, keep up the good work.
The man has no sense of shame, and I find it disgraceful (if not surprising) to find a democratically elected public representative so desperately clinging to 'power' despite having been told by his own Standards committee that he should go. Which I didn't and won't do.
I'm sure your'e happy to have wasted loads of the councils money on that issue. Did you know they even hired a barrister to progress it?. So well done to you, keep up the good work.
I feel another formal complaint coming on, on the direct basis of that response. Conduct in a manner which is likely to bring the Authority into disrepute?
Equus said:
Ian Geary said:
Well done Equus for seeing it through, and for updating the thread!
Sadly, I've just had an email directly from ColinM50 in response to my query on this thread, saying (in full, and unedited; my bold):ColinM50 said:
Yes, sorry to tell you Equus, that despite you stamping your feet and throwing your toys out of your pram all they could do was recommend that I resign from the committee.
Which I didn't and won't do.
I'm sure your'e happy to have wasted loads of the councils money on that issue. Did you know they even hired a barrister to progress it?. So well done to you, keep up the good work.
The man has no sense of shame, and I find it disgraceful (if not surprising) to find a democratically elected public representative so desperately clinging to 'power' despite having been told by his own Standards committee that he should go. Which I didn't and won't do.
I'm sure your'e happy to have wasted loads of the councils money on that issue. Did you know they even hired a barrister to progress it?. So well done to you, keep up the good work.
I feel another formal complaint coming on, on the direct basis of that response. Conduct in a manner which is likely to bring the Authority into disrepute?
Alucidnation said:
All you were basing your complaints on, was what he said on an Internet forum with, at a guess, little or no hard proof.
Rightly or wrongly, the proof was deemed sufficient.Colin was found to have breached the Council's Code of Conduct, and the recommendation of their Standards Committee was that he should be removed from the Planning Committee.
To quote them directly (and this information is in the public realm, so I'm not compromising his personal privacy - it was published on the Council's website on the link I gave above):
they said:
The decision of the Sub-Committee is as follows:
The Sub-Committee has found that Councillor Colin ****** has breached the Code of Conduct in relation to paragraph 3.7 of the Code and is recommending to the Group Leader of the HDC Independent Group, the removal of Councillor ******’s membership from the Development Management Committee.
The Sub-Committee has found that Councillor Colin ****** has breached the Code of Conduct in relation to paragraph 3.7 of the Code and is recommending to the Group Leader of the HDC Independent Group, the removal of Councillor ******’s membership from the Development Management Committee.
Edited by Equus on Saturday 18th January 15:41
Alucidnation said:
How come he is still there then?
Dunno. I asked the same question of their Democratic Services team a couple of weeks ago, and am awaiting an answer. I'll give them a prod for a response when I submit the second formal complaint.I can only assume that their constitution requires that members have enough personal integrity to resign when asked to do so, which Colin clearly doesn't, and that they lack the powers to actually 'sack' a member of the committee once appointed.
I’d forgotten this thread so have just spent a while reading it again. And marvelling at Colin’s arrogance and ignorance of the planning system at both Parish and District council levels, and the planning system as a whole. That he hasn’t been removed from office, or at least from sitting on the DC’s planning committee, is disgraceful. Unfortunately, his inability to fulfil his public service role properly is only too depressingly common in my fairly extensive local authority experience.
ColinM50 said:
Yes, sorry to tell you Equus, that despite you stamping your feet and throwing your toys out of your pram all they could do was recommend that I resign from the committee.
Which I didn't and won't do.
I'm sure your'e happy to have wasted loads of the councils money on that issue. Did you know they even hired a barrister to progress it?. So well done to you, keep up the good work.’
Utterly staggering. He’s sticking two fingers up at his own committee, bragging that it cost a lot and it’s all someone else’s fault, and not acknowledging he’s done anything wrong.Which I didn't and won't do.
I'm sure your'e happy to have wasted loads of the councils money on that issue. Did you know they even hired a barrister to progress it?. So well done to you, keep up the good work.’
The mans an outright nutter.
It’s time to let the papers know IMO.
blueg33 said:
It’s a shameful approach from Colin. Unprofessional response to something he either did which was wrong, or lied about on the forum which is pathetic.
In fact pathetic is the best description.
Which is on par with all of the planning advice he offers on here, the guy obviously knows nothing about the planning process yet can’t help himself.In fact pathetic is the best description.
Just be thankful you aren’t stuck in a pub with him listening to his peacock drivel.
dmsims said:
I wonder why Colin hasn't ventured back to this thread ?
One thing I would genuinely be interested in knowing is why is unwilling to resign, in the face of the finding against him?What's in it for him, desperately clinging on to a position on the Planning Committee, when there are others who could take his place and do a better job with a clean slate?
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