A parish council barred a regional daily journalist from a meeting about a proposed housing development after a request by the developer’s agent.
Swindon Advertiser trainee reporter Tom Seaward was told a pre-application discussion on plans to build 400 new homes would be heard in private by South Swindon Parish Council.
According to a report in the Advertiser, Bristol-based agent Turley launched a successful a bid to get the discussion heard behind closed doors, clearing members of the public and journalists from a meeting of the council’s planning committee.
Despite representations from the Advertiser, parish councillors chose to stage the meeting in secret.
The site of the proposed development in Swindon
Explaining to councillors why the company had requested the meeting be held in private, Turley director Peter Lawson said: “The purpose of coming to you at this very early stage is to have a discussion with you about the issues in relation to developing a particular site. Those issues could well have an impact on contractual negotiations.”
But Swindon Borough Council member Bob Wright told the Advertiser after the meeting: “I can’t understand why a proposal for developing the sidings site needed to be in private with the parish council.
“It’s not very democratic. The best way to make a plan is openly and transparently, where all the issues can be heard.”
The newspaper declined to comment further when approached by HTFP.
No planning application has yet been lodged with Swindon Borough Council over the proposal, but the Advertiser understands it could be put before the public within weeks.
HTFP has approached the parish council for a comment.
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Another slide towards censorship. The intricate details of the plan should have been discussed in private with officials from the main council. It should never have reached the parish council in what appears to be a pretty basic and raw state. But as soon as it reached the parish council it should have been out in the open as this would affect not only other homes in the area but also, in the long run, the council tax paid by those homes.
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Oh yes. “Keep the discussion n private and we’ll see what we can do…”
These dubious shenanigans are happening all over the country in former rural district councils – Pickles’s localism act gave them a smidgen more power than they;’ve had since 1974 and they suddenly think they’re the great I Am. And they just love discussing things in secret. Still got no real power, though, as will be apparent when the planning application is submitted.
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“The press are here. You can’t really keep them out, unfortunately”. A council chairman I overheard heard talking to councillors many moons ago. It is nothing new.
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