Prejudice? Or is it merely personal?
The business of planning can be deathly dull. But when a Somerset parliamentary candidate puts in an application and it is to be decided by councillors from his own party, things can spark up a bit.
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Prejudice? Or is it merely personal?
It would only be fair to say that the rules about personal and prejudicial interests are far from clear. They often require legal interpretations. Councillors often have interests to declare in the business of council meetings. They might know an individual making a planning application, they might work for a company that was tendering for council business. They might belong to a voluntary organisation seeking a council grant.
These sorts of issues crop up a lot. If something is a personal interest, the councillor declares his/her interest, but stays in the room for the debate and votes on the issue.
A prejudicial interest is more significant. It is defined in local government rules. They say “a personal interest becomes a prejudicial interest if it is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgement of the public interest.”
A councillor declaring a prejudicial interest should withdraw from a meeting during discussion of the item they declared a prejudicial interest in. They should not take part in the debate, they should not vote on the issue.
On the 30 March, a planning application came before Somerset West & Taunton Council. It was on the face of it, not especially unusual. It would see a 3 bedroom house built in the grounds of an existing house, Weir Lodge. The oddity was that the name of the landowner was studiously avoided in all discussion of the application.