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 Robert Davis declared that any Members of the Majority Party who had or would make representations on the applications on the agenda were his friends. He also advised that in his capacity as Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning it was inevitable and part of his role that he got to know, meet and talk to leading members of the planning and property industry including landowners and developers and their professional teams such as architects, surveyors, planning consultants, lawyers and public affairs advisers as well as residents, residents associations and amenity groups. It was his practice to make such declarations. He stated that it did not mean that they were his personal friends or that he had a pecuniary interest, but that he had worked with them in his capacity as Cabinet Member for Planning.
2.2 Councillor Davis explained that all four Members of the Committee were provided a week before the meeting 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 the meeting in the officers presentation or by Members of the Committee, because of the need to get through a long agenda, it did not mean that Members had ignored the issue as they will have read about it and comments made by correspondents in the papers read prior to the meeting.
2.3 Councillor Davis also declared that in his capacity as the Cabinet Member for the Built Environment with specific responsibility for planning he regularly meets with developers as part of the City Council’s pre-application engagement with applicants. This was wholly in accordance with normal protocols and the terms set out in the Localism Act 2011 and as amplified in the Communities and Local Government Act Guidance document “A Plain English Guide to the Localism Act”. Councillor Davis added that the meetings held with applicants and in some case objectors too were without prejudice and all parties were advised that a final formal decision was only taken when all the facts were before him and his Committee through the normal planning application process.
2.4 Councillor Davis wished to declare that in his capacity as Cabinet Member he knew a number of the directors of planning consultancy companies in Westminster. The planning consultancy companies were representing the applicants on a number of items on the current agenda, including Four Communications, Belgrave, DP9, Gerald Eve and Turleys.
2.5 Councillor Davis then made the following further declarations as they related to the specific applications on the agenda:
Item 1: That he knows the Directors of Qatari Diar and had received hospitality from them in the past. He also knows the Directors of Four Communications, Gerald Eve and the Grosvenor Estate who hold land interests in the area. He also declared that he knows the Architects for the scheme and had held meetings with the applicants in relation to the application. A plaque bearing his name was located on the Embassy building.
Item 2: That he knows the Directors of Belgrave and Alchemi and that he had attended meetings with the applicant.
Item 3: That he knows the Directors of Four Communications and had held a meeting with the applicant.
Item 4: He knows the Directors of Turleys and Four Communications. He also knows the Directors of Berkeley and has received hospitality from them. Some of the Directors from Berkeleys had made bids for auction items at a gala dinner arranged by the Sir Simon Milton Foundation. He had held meetings with the applicants in relation to the site and had chaired the committee meeting that had considered an application for the adjacent site.
Item 5: He knows the Directors of DP9, Four Communications and the Architect for the scheme. He has also held meetings with the applicants regarding the proposal.
Item 6: He knows the Directors of Four Communications and had held meetings with the applicants in relation to the application.
2.6 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 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. He also knew planning consultancy companies that were representing the applicants on a number of items on the current agenda, including DP9, Turleys, Belgrave, Four Communications and Gerald Eve.
2.7 Councillor Mitchell then made the following further declarations as they related to the specific applications on the agenda:
Item 1: That he had sat on the committee that had previously considered applications for the site. That he knows Directors of Qatari Diar and the Grosvenor Estate.
Item 2: That the site is located in his ward. He had received representations from both the applicant and the objectors to the application.
Item 4: That he had sat on the committee that had considered the application for the adjacent site.
2.8 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 advised that she was Deputy Cabinet Member for Housing, Business and Economic Regeneration. She further advised that she sometimes met people from the property industry but had not been contacted by anyone in relation to the applications on the agenda. She declared in respect of Item 4 that she had sat on the committee that had considered an application for the adjacent site.
2.9 Councillor Williams declared that he has regularly met the Directors of Qatari Diar as they own the former Chelsea Barracks site which is located in his ward. He also declared that the Grosvenor Estate have property holdings in his ward. However, he had not discussed the application with either party.