I agree with the sentiment, and the article at the link below is quite disturbing :https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/planning-construction-news/corrupt-planning-decisions/80113/None of it is reflected in my experience however. I only know of 1 occasion when a colleague was offered a bribe by a consultant, which was swiftly rebuffed and recorded.A minority of clients have used PR/lobbying firms, which often include serving Councillors from other Boroughs, although I've never seen it generate results - indeed, I recall on one occasion the representative from the lobbying firm told my client that, following lobbying, Councillors of a particular political colour would vote in favour of our application, and lo and behold the application was unanimously refused !.As I've said before, one of my biggest gripe is with Officers at LPA's not taking corruption/allegations of dodgy behaviour seriously, and I'm talking about when Councillors or the public make spurious claims in writing or at committee and the Officers basically ignore it. In the last year I've been at one committee where both a member of the public and a Councillor implied that the Officer had been 'got at' by myself or my client, which was completely untrue, yet the Officers simply didn't respond - which I find disgusting because if people are going to band around such potentially career-ending accusations without a shred of evidence, and not be challenged (put up or shut up) then that only tacitly suggests there's some truth in the allegation.Similarly on any case the LPA, whilst redacting third party representations prior to uploading them to the website, didn't stop to think whether a representation making a similar accusation was libellous, and it was only when it entered the public domain and I threatened legal action was that representation removed. On the same case, a member of the public contacted me, Senior Officers and the local MP stating that he'd been told that the application was a "done deal", a claim that the MP seemed only too happy to include in her objection to the application. Out of all the other recipients who was the only person to respond ? - me. I asked the Officers if they were going to respond and was told "nah, we won't waste our time on that". That attitude infuriates me - so much for treating such allegations seriously or defending Officers when there's not a shred of evidence to substantiate a libellous accusation.But I've got first hand experience of that, at Hounslow I was accused of saying that "we have alot of problems with Asians in the Borough", fortunately the accuser was someone I knew would try something like that (I'd only got involved because they'd been unhappy with the work of my staff) and I'd made sure every phone conversation I had at the time was witnessed, so it was relatively easy to rebut the allegation as colleagues were able to confirm that I'd actually said "we have alot of problems with outbuildings in the Borough".But, in this world of customer care and all that, the individual making the allegation got a letter which started with "we are very sorry that you have felt the need to complain"...suffice to say that wasn't the wording I'd have used !.As for Cllr. Louki, what I would say is that sometimes Councillors play to the public gallery too much and lose sight of their specific responsibilities, especially when sat on a planning committee - I've been on the receiving end of what could best be described as a 'rant' from Cllr. Louki which was solely about whether the applicant used zero hours employment contracts. Which is bugger all to do with planning, and he ended up being effectively 'shut down' and looking abit daft. Which he certainly isn't, but there really was no need for him to go off on a complete tangent.
Adam Beamish ● 1838d