Furious opposition councillors have called for Cheshire East Council heads to roll after figures revealed £3.7 million has been spent on the authority’s flawed Local Plan.
And the first casualty was unveiled today, as Cllr David Brown (pictured above, left) who has overseen the Plan since 2010 announced he is stepping aside.
A total of £3.76 million has been spent in five years drafting the Plan – with more than £1 million coughed up in 2013-14 alone.
Yet a planning inspector last week shot the Plan down in flames, criticising it in his interim report for not addressing housing supply issues.
It has led to a re-write, six months of delay in getting the plan adopted, and Cheshire East announcing today they are changing the team responsible for delivering it.
Willaston and Rope Cllr Brian Silvester (pictured above, right), who revealed the full cost of the Plan, said: “It is not a rewrite that is required, it will virtually mean starting again.
“This is incompetence on a massive scale and all those councillors who supported the Local Plan should be thrown out next May to allow for a fresh start.
“Local residents will be appalled that Cheshire East has spent five years and £3.7m of taxpayers money on a Local Plan that is totally inadequate and left our precious green open spaces to the mercy of the developers.”
Figures revealed today show £588,526 was spent on the Plan in 2010-11, £722,532 spent in 2011-12, £904,767 coughed up in 2012-13, and a massive £1,025,942 spent in 2013-14.
And already this year 2014-15, which is just seven months in, £523,869 has been spent.
Many fear the delay has opened the way for developers to submit applications for green sites across Nantwich and surrounding villages.
Today, Cllr David Brown who has worked on the Plan since the beginning, has stepped down from the role.
A new Task Force, led by Cllr Peter Raynes, is being formed to coordinate the work to address the inspector’s concerns.
Council Leader Michael Jones said: “Peter will be ably assisted by former Cabinet member Councillor Jamie Macrae, who has a fantastic background within planning and economic development.
“We will also continue to listen to residents and involve external partners.
“It is important for everybody to be reassured we have listened and will continue to listen to people to make sure we get the Local Plan right as soon as possible.”
Cllr Brown said in a statement that he has taken the decision to “take a backward step” in overseeing the Plan.
He added: “I believe this is the best solution for the way forward as I have spent many hours and met many residents during the production of the plan.
“Since the Local Plan was approved by the council on February 28, 2014, the Government has come out with a new assessment methodology – the National Planning Policy Guidance – and therefore new housing calculations and employment figures will have to be calculated.
“Now it is time for others to assess the Planning Inspector’s comments in total – to make sure we can address all the issues that have been raised.”
These guys will be yesterday’s men after the next election in 2015.
They are making it sooooo easy for UKIP. How many of them will jump ship and join Farage and his weird lot?
Brown won’t be got rid of yet. He will be used as an escape goat when Jones head is for the chop.
This side stepping is complete nonsense. In November 2010 the Council consulted on the “Issues and Options” for the new Local Plan and Cllr Brown’s smiley face appears in the Foreword. Paragraph 6.3 of that document refers to an annual need for 1,243 affordable homes and 2,800 market homes – that’s over 4,000 homes a year in total. It is wrong for Councillors to now say that it’s only recent changes in planning policy which mean they need more homes. 27,000 over 20 years was never enough and the Council knew this in 2010 as their own documents told them so. They consulted on this document so why didn’t they plan for what their own evidence was telling trhem at that time.
stepping aside is an inadequate outcome after the cuts to local services accross the country have hit people hard in all sectors of the community.
stepping aside indicates that he will continue in his position and draw a salary for being inept. 3.76million misappropriated which is what it is as the process was not correctly managed, should warrant instant removal from his position and an independent inquiry to ask why and where was this money spent and where has it ended up. where theres money there’s corruption and even more so when what you pay for is not delivered without question
All very interesting and political but why should a councillor, David Brown in this case, have any expertise in managing a project such as this? Why has it taken so long to come to light? Who was checking what Councillor Brown was doing? Are any brown envelopes involved? Councillor Brown is elected and, therefore, can’t just be sacked. But he could have the decency to resign. .