Conflict of Interest? - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

Only if they then go on to take decisions without declaring a conflict of interest I think. I presume where there are decisions on issues that they are involved in as an agent, they would have to declare an interest and not take part in the discussion/vote. Can any councillors on here provide a better answer?

The awkward position of such a councillor arises not when they have a clearly prejudicial interest (simple - declare it and take no part), but when they vote on something that establishes a precedent. If a councillor has a perceived field of expertise and is deferred to by colleagues on a planning committee who are less well versed in the technicalities of an application then such precedent can easily become established. When one of the councillor's client's applications then comes before the committee, he may declare and withdraw, but his colleagues will no doubt be mindful of the precedent previously established and the member in question may thus benefit from their previous advocacy of a particular approach. At town council level this will at least only affect a recommendation to the LPA, but if the councillor in question sits on the planning committee of an LPA then the impact can be serious. Unless all town councillors in the location Louise refers to are automatically on planning committee then it may be best if the member in question is not offered such a post.

I am a planning consultant who was also elected in May as a member of my parish council. Our parish is quite large and unlike many others we do have elections! The difference in my case is that I will be retiring at the end of the year and will thereafter have no conflict of interest. I was also elected as one of the vice-chairmen of the planning committee, the other vice-chairman being an architect and long-standing parish councillor. The parish council voted us into these positions because they appreciate the expertise we can bring to the discussion. At it simplest, as the chairman said to me – “at least you know how to read a plan!” From my experience so far I would not accept that the other councillors are unduly influenced by our input. Indeed, the architect and I sometimes disagree so the others can see that there are sometimes more than one way of looking at applications. It is important to appreciate that parish councils are not giving a professional view - although hopefully a reasonably informed one. All they are doing is providing a local perspective, warts and all (see below). My observations so far are:  Obviously where there any application is being considered in which my practice is involved – irrespective of whether I have been personally involved – I take no part in the discussion and that applies equally to the architect. One of the reasons for having two vice-chairmen is that either of us can step down if necessary. When I broached the matter with the chairman of the parish council before the election he told me that they are well used to dealing with potential conflicts of interest and would much rather that people like me are on the council because of the knowledge and expertise we can bring to discussions. Others of course bring their own different knowledge.  I was a planning officer for five different district councils over 17 years and have been a consultant for 19 years. My perception is that because consultants are independent and deal with a large number of clients on a range of projects in a large number of district councils we are far more sensitive to possible conflicts of interest than local government officers who effectively have only one client. Indeed I think that planning officers sometimes find it difficult to differentiate between their roles as an advisor to the council and as an employee of the council. I tend to specialise in promoting strategic sites and one of the first questions I have to address when asked whether I can act on a new project – whether or not the potential client asks the question – is might there be a conflict of interest? The same applies when I then approach other consultants to make up the team. The development industry takes this very seriously. It therefore causes me no problems in determining whether I might have any conflict wearing my parish councillor’s hat.  One of the things I am getting my head around at the moment is that being a parish councillor requires a different way of thinking from being both an LPA officer and a consultant – and indeed a district council member. One of my initial concerns for example, was why do parish councils often use the ‘no objection’ response to planning applications rather than give a clear ‘approve’ or ‘refuse’ as a planning officer has to do? My fellow consultants said that this is a very wishy-washy way of providing views to the LPA. I discussed this with the planning chairman who pointed out that where an application is of clear benefit to the wider community then the parish council will certainly indicate its clear support. For example, we have a 50 house scheme at the moment on a brownfield site. It is providing dwellings that the parish council wants and we have been actively working with both the applicants and the district council to arrive at a good proposal acceptable to everybody. So far as individual householder or small business applications are concerned, however, whilst the parish council may consider them to be perfectly acceptable the neighbours may not be too happy and the council cannot be seen to be overtly taking sides. I am now happy to go along with this approach.  I have been saying to people that sometimes I have to decide - do I do what I think is professionally right, or do I reflect the prejudices and ignorance of my electors? I am starting to look at politicians in a different light now. How far do you lead and how far do you follow? As it happens I had a meeting recently with the Head of Planning of our local council who is aware that I am on the Council. His advice to me was that ex-planners often make good parish councillors because we know the system, but to start off from my parish council role and see how far I can reconcile that with my professional views. I thought that was good advice. So far I consider that I am succeeding.