Campaigners have complained to North Yorkshire Council after it emerged that a planning officer overseeing controversial plans for North York Moors National Park Authority’s (NYMNPA) new headquarters previously worked for the body.
While they have not alleged any impropriety, residents who oppose the proposal for offices and a depot on designated employment land in Riccal Drive, Helmsley, say their confidence in the planning process has been “shattered” by the discovery.
In a letter to council chiefs, the group of 14 residents has raised concerns that a report for councillors which recommends the application is approved has been drawn up by planning officer Peter Jones, who it is understood worked for NYMPA for a number of years at least a decade ago.
The residents are calling for the scheme to be removed from Thursday’s agenda for the Thirsk and Malton area planning committee and a new officer be appointed to assess the application.
The letter states: “A potential conflict of interest issue has emerged that has shaken our confidence in the integrity of this planning process.
“We urgently request that this application does not appear at the planning committee meeting on January 16 and that Mr Jones steps away from dealing with it.”
The residents claim that as a senior planning officer, Mr Jones would have been involved in the drawing up of Helmsley Town Plan which designated the plot of land proposed for the new headquarters for employment.
It is not clear whether Mr Jones was working for the park authority when the plan was put together between 2012 and 2015.
The group says the own council’s code of conduct warns that a failure to recognise a conflict of interest can give the impression that the authority or the officer are not acting in the public interest.
“The confidence of Riccal Drive residents in the processing of this planning application has been shattered,” residents added.
“To restore faith in the integrity, impartiality and objectivity of the council’s operation, we ask that this application be paused to allow the withdrawal of Mr Jones as case officer, and the appointment of another planning officer, with no prior involvement with NYMPA, to take on the case.
“We would also ask that this officer completely reviews the whole application, taking into consideration the community’s relevant objections, and all the other issues surrounding it.”
As well as being a former employee of NYMNPA, the residents say Mr Jones is friends on social media with senior planning officers at the park authority.
However, North Yorkshire Council assistant director of planning, Trevor Watson, rejected the claim there was a potential conflict of interests.
In a statement to the local democracy reporting service, he said: “The application will be determined by elected members of our planning committee and not council officers and will be considered on its merits.
“While the report was prepared by one of our officers, it is more than a decade since they were employed by the national park authority and, therefore, we do not consider there to be any potential for bias in their recommendation.
“Had this application fallen within the national park boundary then it would have been dealt with by officers from that body rather than ourselves.
“However, it is not uncommon for matters relating to ourselves to be dealt with by officers we employ.”
In his response to the residents, Mr Watson also rejected claims that links on Facebook were a potential conflict, adding: “The involvement of officers in a social media group does not give rise to an interest which would prevent the officer from acting as a case officer.”
He advised residents to go through the council’s formal complaints process if they were still not satisfied.
A decision on the headquarters was deferred last month after councillors decided there were too many loose ends with the plans for the scheme, which is outside the national park, to be approved.
Critics of the scheme have raised concerns about the impact of the development on surrounding houses.
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