from: Cllr Brian Miller
re: Conflict of interests 7 March 2002

Dear Editor

As the person who chaired the Development Control Committee which considered
the Twickenham Riverside planning application, I feel that I must respond to
Ron Harvey's note of 5 March.

The question of possible conflicts of interest was studied very carefully
before the meeting on 28 February and legal opinion was sought. The upshot
of this opinion was that no one who was a Member of the Committee that
evening had prejudiced themselves by any actions they may have taken
earlier. This point was made clear by the Legal Services Officer present at
the meeting as the meeting itself opened.

The vote was taken in the usual way at the meeting with Members indicating
how they voted by raising their hands. No response was made to Mr Harvey's
interjection because the Committee does not take questions or interventions
from the floor and as a regular attendee at Development Control Committee
meetings, Mr Harvey will be aware of this. This point was also covered in
the meeting notes given to all those who attended.

Mr Harvey did approach me in the early hours of Friday morning last outside
York House after the meeting as I left the building in the company of a
fellow Member of the Committee and a senior Council Officer. Mr Harvey made
his point that Members had voted "on party lines". The fellow Committee
Member and I stated that was not true as far as we were not concerned.

The Liberal Democrats, at least, on Richmond Council have never made
planning decisions a party political issue and Liberal Democrat Members and,
I am sure, members of the other political groups, cast their votes based
upon the planning merits of any given application. This point is proved at
almost every Development Control meeting when there is a division of opinion
on an application.

Brian Miller
Chair, Development Control Committee

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