Councillor Hobhouse - fed up with 'dodgy' planning decisions

Date published: 11 November 2007

Following his dramatic ejection from the recent Rochdale Council Regulatory Committee meeting, Councillor William Hobhouse has explained in detail to Rochdale Online the motivation behind what at face value was a quite extraordinary position to take – insisting he pre-determined decisions regarding planning applications without hearing the applications.

As revealed on Rochdale Online just hours after the meeting ended, Councillor Hobhouse said that he had not read the planning documents and had no intention of doing so because he said as a "matter of principle" he would never vote against planning officers recommendations to refuse an application.

However, Councillor Hobhouse has now explained that his controversial behaviour was because he is "fed up with dodgy decisions in this Borough when there is a perfectly good mechanism for dealing with contentious planning applications - appeals to the Secretary of State."

Councillor Hobhouse was referring to what he considers to be an inappropriate conflict of interest. He says: "The total absence of openness means that time and time again Councillors are protected by Council Officers. I believe the Borough Solicitor needs to act, because Councillors won’t."

He added: "The thing I want to achieve from this is that the Borough Solicitor brings to Council that all decisions to refuse planning applications are automatically delegated to Officers - and the applicants rights are determined by appeal to the Secretary of State, and Councillors cannot ever again reasonably be accused of being improperly influenced by an applicant.

"As you can see from the recent controversy, I don't even have the Code of Conduct on my side. I am about to be thrown off the Regulatory Committee because of my view that I will never vote against an officer recommendation to refuse."

Councillor Hobhouse has written to the Borough Solicitor, Catherine Witham, who he says has confirmed that Councillors can be retained by developers and yet still sit on planning and regulatory committees.

Councillor Hobhouse said: "I imagine Catherine Witham is very uneasy with this, she is independent, young and new. She's already in practice implementing a Lib Dem policy I introduced that no member of a planning committee can also sit on the Regulatory (every planning decision for the regulatory has already been to a planning committee). But she will have to act on her own as she'll get no support from Councillors and no support from the retiring Head of Planning, Ken Smith."

Councillor Ashley Dearnley, Leader of the Conservatives on the Council and a former Mayor with 26 years service as a Councillor, has called on the Liberal Democrats to insist Councillor Hobhouse names names and provides proof of his allegations, and if he cannot then to discipline him by removing the Lib Dem party whip.

Councillor Dearnley said: "Councillor Hobhouse is casting suspicion on all councillors, including his own Lib Dem colleagues, as well as Council staff who are not in a position to publicly defend themselves.

"I have been a Councillor for 26 years and serve on the planning committee and I have never received any form of payment from a developer - I resent, as I am sure my colleagues on the planning committee of all political persuasions will, being placed under suspicion.

"Councillor Hobhouse's comments are disgraceful, my concern is his allegations are damaging to his own colleagues, to all councillors, to council officers, indeed, to the council as a whole, and to the people of the Borough of Rochdale."