Initial discussions about which land may be allocated for housing in East Devon are being held in private, in a way that is not transparent, it’s been claimed.
Sidmouth businessman Richard Eley has told the district council’s strategic planning committee that so-called ‘working party’ meetings “should be recorded and open to the public” rather than behind closed doors, with no record published.
Mr Eley said: “I’m told the reason they are in private is so that those who attend can have a full and free discussion, but if that’s the case, then why are these meetings in public?,” he said.
“Local plans should be discussed in public and residents perform a vital role of scrutiny.”
East Devon District Council is creating a new local plan, an important document that identifies which areas can be developed.
Working party meetings were agreed by the committee last month, as a way of whittling down the number of sites that could be proposed for the plan.
The fear was that if every potential site was brought to the committee, it would be time consuming, whereas smaller working parties could discuss sites in their respective wards and bring a targeted list to the full committee.
But Mr Eley felt the public should know how the working parties decided which to put forward.
“Local plans are complex and detailed documents, so mistakes will be made, and only public intervention can correct them,” he said.
“I also think holding important meetings, in secret, places the plan in jeopardy, and there is a chance the inspector may declare the plan to be invalid.
Mr Eley suggested “the only solution was to reconvene the meetings” and record all future ones.
Cllr Ben Ingham (Conservative, Woodbury and Lympstone) sympathised with Mr Eley’s view. “We have to learn from these things,” he said.
“If we decide to discuss behind closed doors arguably the most contentious, emotive parts of what we do from residents’ perspective, for reasons unknown to them, we will excite this sort of criticism.”
But the committee’s chair, Cllr Todd Olive (Liberal Democrat, Whimple and Rockbeare), said they had discussed such criticism at their previous meeting, and the decision had been taken to go-ahead with the working parties.
“If it is the will of the committee that we revisit that, then I will take advice on whether that’s acceptable, but otherwise it isn’t on the agenda for this meeting.”
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