Councillor who “made up his mind” ahead of planning vote breached code of conduct

Cllr Stuart Munro voiced "strong objections" to the 81-home application in a consultation response, claiming the development constituted inappropriate development, would put pressure on existing infrastructure, and lead to traffic problems.

He then took part in a discussion and voted against the planning application in January 2024.

The complaint alleged that Cllr Munro should have declared an interest in one of the items on the agenda of a planning committee meeting held in January 2024.

It argued that Cllr Munro had "made up his mind" in advance to oppose the planning application and "that he was provided advice, which shows that he knew there was a risk he had fettered his discretion, and then ignored that advice by voting".

This left the council open to a finding of maladministration or other challenges and constituted a breach of the members code of conduct, the complaint added.

According to a report by the BBC, Cllr Munro said he felt the decision was "nonsense".

He said he submitted his comments about the application a year before they were included in the committee's papers and that he did not participate in its discussion about it.

The BBC report said Cllr Munro added that the application was amended after he had submitted his comments and before the committee rejected it.

A decision notice said that the panel agreed with the conclusions reached by an investigating officer that Cllr Munro should have declared an interest relating to the planning item and not participated in the debate or voted on the application.

"This would have been in accordance with the legal advice Councillor Munro received prior to the meeting," it said.

The panel instructed Wokingham's monitoring officer to arrange appropriate training for Cllr Munro on declaration of interests.

It also "noted the investigating officer’s conclusion that this is a complex area of law, and the concept of predetermination is not straightforward".

Adam Carey