Councillor accused of trying to ‘get one over’ on planning panel

Bruce Sinclair, Local Democracy Reporter

A county councillor has been accused of trying to “get one over” on a planning panel, linked to a case which resulted in the suspension of one of his political group’s members, by calling for its end.

At the 21 September meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s constitutional review committee, members were asked to consider a notice of motion by Councillor Huw Murphy.

Councillors were asked to “consider disbanding the Planning Delegation Panel (PDP) and review the current arrangements so that planning applications delegated to officers for refusal, where a member requests further consideration, are referred directly to the planning committee rather than first being considered by the PDP.”

A supporting statement by Cllr Murphy said this additional stage, “introduces unnecessary bureaucracy into the planning process, leading to increased delays and costs for applicants”.

“The current process can also be perceived as limiting democratic oversight, as applications may be refused by the Panel without being considered by full planning committee, whose elected members bring local knowledge, experience, transparency and democratic accountability to planning decisions.”

He said Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, covering planning matters for some 30 per cent of the county, didn’t have such a panel.

A report for members said that since the panel was established back in 2011, it had streamlined the number of applications being heard by councillors at each planning committee, roughly halving them, with 41 applications considered of the roughly 1,200 a year received by the authority.

Cllr Murphy kicked off the discussion at the September meeting, presenting his arguments, suggesting there was a potential to suspend the panel for some 12 months to gather evidence on its usefulness.

Discussion then turned to the recent four-month suspension of Milford Haven councillor Alan Dennison, a fellow member of Cllr Murphy’s Independent Group, after he was found to have breached the code of conduct for members, which mainly related to a previous Planning Delegation Panel.

He failed to declare personal and prejudicial interests in relation to a call by an applicant, who he had lent money to and holidayed in Mexico with, to have a planning application decided by committee.

Cllr Dennison is a fellow member of the same Independent Group council group as Cllr Murphy,  its former leader.

Speaking at the September meeting, Cllr Rhys Jordan, who later moved the notice not be adopted, asked: “It’s been four-and-a-half years since I was elected, why now are we looking to abolish this? This is trying to get one over a decision that went a certain way that perhaps Cllr Murphy didn’t like.”

That point was echoed by Cllr Joshua Beynon, who said he had never heard any members of the public complain about the working of the panel, later suggesting: “Perhaps a ‘certain councillor’ wouldn’t have been suspended if it wasn’t for the planning delegation panel.”

Cllr Murphy accused Cllr Jordan of “flying a kite” over his suggestions, adding his proposal was “about increasing transparency.”

Cllr Jordan responded by saying he was “certainly not ‘flying a kite’ here today,” saying the removal of the panel would likely see the need for more planning meetings.

Members voted against Cllr Murphy’s call by nine to four; the call is expected to come before a future meeting of full council.

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