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Tories reveal details of Standards row
They report planning chief for ‘conflict
of interest’
CONSERVATIVE councillors have revealed the details of their
official complaint which has left the Town Hall’s planning
chairwoman Heather Johnson facing a Standards Board investigation.
Cllr Johnson (right) is tonight (Thursday) due to chair her
first planning meeting since Tory rivals reported her to the
Standards Board for England and Wales – the government
watchdog which probes member conduct.
She is accused of being biased when she used her casting vote
to wave through plans for a new tower block on the fringes of
Regent’s Park.
The scheme’s applicants are British Land, which is also
represented on the West Euston Partnership (WEP) – a community
regeneration body that vociferously supported the proposals
at a planning meeting last month. Cllr Johnson is on the board
of the WEP.
The complaint made by the Tories has been delayed but is due
to reach Standards Board this morning (Thursday). As a matter
of course, the details will be investigated to see if Cllr Johnson
has a case to answer.
Text of the complaint – seen by the New Journal –
said: “She used her position of chair of the council’s
planning committee to force through an application in which
she had a prejudicial interest.
“The application was made by a company (British Land) who
had financially supported two companies limited by guarantee
(the West Euston Partnership and the West Euston Community Association)
of which she is a director.”
Cllr Johnson, who declared her interest and said she didn’t
take part in any WEP discussions that related to the group’s
support of the scheme, denies any wrong-doing. |
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