I always 'got on' with Mohinder (which based upon this outcome and his previous history with enforcement matters might be surprising to some people), but out of the many Councillors I've encountered in my time he was one who sailed very close to the wind on too many occasions. Numerous times he'd ask me to write 'gentle' enforcement reports to Committee, and my response was always the same, i.e. "my report will be fair and detailed as always" and I'd always record the conversation on the forms we were supposed to complete whenever we spoke to a Councillor about a planning matter.Surprised he didn't learn his lesson after the debacle in 2005/2006 which resulted in the Area Committee losing its enforcement decision making powers, given that he was the one who initially proposed deferral of the Officer recommendation (having walked into the Committee room with the owners of the property !) and inevitably I ended up having to provide evidence to the Ombudsman when the complainant wasn't happy with the decision making process (not surprisingly) given I was the Officer presenting the report to committee and in charge of the Enforcement Team.Quite sad really, generally I always try to appreciate that Councillors can be caught in a difficult position between helping their constituents and having regard to material planning considerations, but when that position extends to these kinds of situations it really isn't on.
Adam Beamish ● 4459d