| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Hounslow's appearance in Rotten Boroughs | |
| Posted by: | Adam Beamish | |
| Date/Time: | 17/06/12 21:17:00 |
| Since I've worked in the private sector, I've never once seen a Borough Solicitor or a Committee Clerk be as 'robust' as I would expect them to be. In my days at Hounslow, if Councillors were behaving 'strangely' or having discussions about an issue that wasn't a material planning consideration, Mike Smith or Terry Welsh would very firmly remind Members what they could and couldn't take into consideration. As Vanessa says, this was inevitably either at Central Hounslow or Heston & Cranford. But take the appeal example I cited, with relates to Richmond Borough. I'm not suggesting for a minute there was any kind of 'dodgy deal', but when the Council has a preferred methodology for parking surveys, and the Council carries out surveys (at the cost of the applicant) which conclude there is not harm, it is plain 'wrong' to then refuse the application on the ground that the applicant hasn't demonstrate there's no harm on parking stress grounds. So yes I firmly believe such cases are examples of ones where Councillors are far too influenced by a feeling of duty to their constitutents, and where Borough Solicitors and/or Committee Clerks need to take a much stronger line than what they do. |