GIVING local councillors complete control over most planning applications has the potential for corruption for as long as parties refuse to say who their big donors are, Green Party leader Steven Agnew has warned.
Under plans for the new super councils, planning permission for all but the largest developments would be in the hands of councillors who at present can only delay planning applications while a final decision is made by planning officials and, if necessary, the Environment Minister.
Mr Agnew said that allowing councillors to decide on lucrative planning issues while, unlike the rest of the UK, their parties’ financial donors remain secret, could create major problems.
Aware of the potential for corruption, Environment Minister Alex Attwood is planning to introduce a statutory ethical code of conduct for councillors in an attempt to prevent them giving in to the temptation of doing favours for wealthy developers.
“While in principle I support the devolution of planning to councils, I have concerns about this,” he said.
“We would have part-time councillors – because while MLAs are well paid, being a councillor is by no means lucrative – deciding on planning applications and I would have concerns about the ability of people to buy decisions.
“We need as many checks and balances as possible and a public list of political donations would let everyone see who was funding who.”
Mr Agnew said that in his brief time as a councillor in North Down, he could remember one councillor repeatedly moving between his council seat and a developer’s representative in the public gallery while a controversial planning application was being discussed.