Stanway’s MP Priti Patel has called for the resignation of top Colchester councillors after a £70 million retail park was finally given the green light. Tory Ms Patel has branded the Labour and Lib Dem-led Colchester Council “rotten” in the wake of the Secretary of State’s decision. Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, overruled the authority’s Local Plan to give Tollgate Village the go-ahead. The Tollgate Partnership twice had its bid for the development turned down by the council.
Ms Patel has now written to Paul Smith, council leader, and Adrian Pritchard, chief executive, calling for their resignations. She said:
“The senior leadership at the council must consider their positions and resign. The council has lost two very serious and important planning appeals and in both cases they spent vast sums of taxpayers’ money doing everything that they could to block these developments. The public wanted these developments to take place and the council’s grounds for refusal were unjustified.”
In July last year, the multi-million pound Stane Park development, in Stanway, was given the go-ahead after an appeal against the council’s rejection. Ms Patel added:
“Not only has taxpayers’ money been squandered by the council, major investment and the creation of hundreds of jobs has been delayed. Residents have lost out because the council’s leadership has put its own vested interests above the needs of Stanway. With large-scale and controversial developments being proposed through the new Local Plan, the public will have no confidence in the council’s actions and decision-making. This rotten Lib Dem and Labour run council needs fresh leadership.”
Opposition Conservative councillors added their voices to the MP’s call for top-level resignations. Lewis Barber, Conservative spokesman on finance, added, "the legal bill for these shenanigans is likely to cost the Council taxpayers almost £1 million, because of the successful applicant and the vanquished council both employing a team of top-flight barristers and planning advisers. The award of damages against the council will knock a huge hole in its already precarious budget.”
Lib Dem Paul Smith described Tory MP Priti Patel’s letter as a “gross distortion” of the facts and said the council had “done its job” in fighting plans for Tollgate Village. He said: “The inspector agreed the proposal went against the Local Plan and agreed it would have a negative impact on transport and the town centre. He has decided on balance these negatives were outweighed by the potential gain. It was quite right for the council to uphold the Local Plan on this issue.”
He highlighted the fact Colchester Council had won the majority of appeals against its planning decisions, saying:
“The council has met its targets and has a record better than most other neighbouring councils. I think it is our job to try to defend the people of Colchester from unwanted development. If we have something which the planning committee rejected, and I would point out that when it was rejected Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors all voted against it, we must uphold this decision. This is not party political application. If we are not going to fight something which is against the Local Plan, harmful to the town centre and transport, just because we might lose, then we are not doing our jobs.”
Source: Daily Gazette