Voters lose out as Conservatives Politicise Planning

10.49.08pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 13th Jul 2005

Residents in the western part of West Berkshire seeking planning permission will face decisions made by an unrepresentative group of Councillors following one of the first actions of the new Conservative administration in West Berkshire.

The Conservatives used their majority on the Council to seize control of the Western Area Planning committee, allowing their members to take the taxpayer funded allowances for the positions of Chair and Vice Chairman.

Now, although electors chose 13 Lib Dem Councillors in the area compared to just 11 Conservatives at the last elections, the new make-up of the western area planning committee will be 7 Conservatives to 5 Lib Dems.

Commenting, Leader of the opposition, Councillor Jeff Brooks (Thatcham West) said:

"Almost the first act of the new Conservative administration has been to ignore the voters and politicise planning. Under the Lib Dem administration the planning committees reflected the numbers of Councillors in that area, and so did the Chairmanships. There can be only one reason that they have ignored the will of voters: so that they can pay Conservative Councillors increased allowances."