Issue - meetings

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests, other registerable interests, and non-registerable interests in any item on the agenda and for Members to declare if they have a pre-determination in respect of any item on the agenda.

In the interest of openness the following declarations were made:

Councillor Gardiner read out the following statement in relation to 21/3100M:

“It has been suggest that my position on this Board has been fettered by my previous actions as a member of this Council, as a member of Knutsford Town Council and through associations relating to my previous appointment.

I was a Member of Knutsford Town Council (and then Chair of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee) which KTC recommended to Cheshire East that in the event that additional sites were required to meet the Local Plan’s assessed needs, then this site should be allocated in the Cheshire East Local Plan. This situation came about when the Local Plan Inspector instructed Cheshire East to identify further sites in the north of the Borough (including Knutsford) to bring the total number of homes for Knutsford nearer to 1000 than the 600 proposed.

This was one of several sites on the outskirts of the Town which was under consideration. However, the Local Plan Inspector independently agreed this was the site which should be allocated.

I was a member of Cheshire East Council at the time the Local Plan was put forward for adoption and voted for its adoption. However, the Local Plan was adopted several years ago and the site’s allocation within the Local Plan is now a matter of fact and a material consideration which I am required to consider when determining whether this application should be refused or allowed. As such I consider that my previous comments and voting record no more fetter’s my position today than any other member of this Board.

Additionally, I was previously in the employ of Emery Planning, the agents for the application and I work directly with Mr Coxon at that time. I ceased working for Emery Planning in 2010 and although my paths continue to cross with Mr Coxon and other former colleagues, these meetings are increasingly rare these days and I don’t recall seeing Mr Coxon for at least 4 years. I have not engaged with Mr Coxon or any of his colleagues I may have bumped into in the meantime regarding this application.

The last occasion I recall seeing Mr Coxon was when I attended a pre-submission briefing session about this site hosted by officers of Knutsford Town Council and attended by the Town Clerk, Mr Coxon, and most members of the Town Council in post at that time.

It is part of the planning process of major applications for applicants to hold formal briefings with Town and Parish Councils in advance of formally submitting their application. At that meeting I did make several observations about concerns I had with the draft proposal.

Furthermore I am known to Mrs Jamison as a resident of Knutsford, as a spokesperson for KROW, a regular attendee at Town Council meetings and a lead-member of one of the working groups collecting data, informing debate and drafting policies for the Knutsford Neighbourhood Plan, as previously mentioned I  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26