To receive declarations by members and officers of the existence and nature of any personal or prejudicial interests in matters on this agenda.
Minutes:
2.1 Councillor Richard Beddoe explained that a week before the meeting, all four Members of the Committee were provided with a full set of papers including a detailed officer’s report on each application; together with bundles of every single letter or e-mail received in respect of every application, including all letters and e-mails containing objections or giving support. Members of the Committee read through everything in detail prior to the meeting. Accordingly, if an issue or comment made by a correspondent was not specifically mentioned at this meeting in the officers’ presentation or by Members of the Committee, it did not mean that the issue had been ignored. Members will have read about the issue and comments made by correspondents in the papers read prior to the meeting.
2.2 Councillor Tim Mitchell declared that any Members of the Majority Party who had or would make representations in respect of the applications on the agenda were his friends. He also advised that in his capacity as a Councillor for St James’s Ward, and as Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Corporate Services responsible for the City Council’s property portfolio, he regularly met with members of the planning and property industry as well as residents’ associations and amenity groups.
2.3 Councillor Mitchell then made the following further declarations as they related to the specific applications on the agenda:
Item 1: That the application is in his Ward.
Item 4: That he had sat on the Committee that had considered a previous application.
2.4 Councillor Susie Burbridge declared that any Members of the Majority Party and Minority Party who had or would make representations on the applications on the agenda were her friends. She declared that she is the Deputy Cabinet Member for Housing. Councillor Burbridge further advised that that she did meet architects and developers from time to time but had not seen or spoken to any in relation to the applications on the agenda.
2.5 Councillor Burbridge then made the following declarations as they related to the specific applications on the agenda:
Item 3: That the application is in her Ward.
Item 4: That she had sat on the Committee that had considered a previous application.
2.6 Councillor David Boothroyd declared that he is Head of Research and Psephology for Thorncliffe, whose clients are companies applying for planning permission from various local authorities. No current clients are in Westminster, and if there were, he would be precluded from working on them under the company’s code of conduct.
2.7 Councillor Boothroyd further declared that some Thorncliffe clients have engaged planning consultants who are also representing the applicants at the meeting: Savills on item 1 and Rolfe Judd Planning Ltd on item 6. However, he advised that he does not deal directly with clients or other members of project teams, and there is no financial link between the planning consultants and his employers.
2.8 Councillor Boothroyd then made the following furtherdeclarations as they related to the specific applications on the agenda:
Item 2: That some friends of his lived relatively close to the site and he had been sent comments on the application by Councillor Ruth Bush in her capacity as a Ward Member.
Item 4: That he had sat on the Committee on 15 April 2014 that had considered the previous application referred to in paragraph 6.1 of the report.
Item 8: That the applicants, Criterion Capital, were clients of Thorncliffe from July 2015 to January 2016, in respect of a development in Camden. Councillor Boothroyd also declared that he lives on Park West Place to the south-east of the site, but not close enough to be affected by the operation of the hotel, so he did not consider the interest to be prejudicial.