Four Councillors Referred to Standards Board for England

The Lincolnshire Echo reports today that for members of West Lindsey District Council have been referred to the Standards Board for England.

The, recently elected, Leader of the Council, Cllr. Adam Duguid, Conservative (Market Rasen Ward) together with colleague Cllr. Malcolm Parish, Conservative (Welton Ward) and Independent Group Leader Cllr. Bernard Theobald, Independent (Wold View Ward) and Cllr. Stuart Kinch, Independent, (Torkesy Ward) face allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

The Standards Board has confirmed it is assessing a request to investigate allegations against Cllr. Theobald, Cllr. Duguid, Cllr. Stuart Kinch and Cllr Parish. The cases of the four men were referred to the national board by the district council's own standards committee.

Spokesman for West Lindsey District Council, Geoff O'Neill is reported to have confirmed to the paper that the complaints had been made by the Liberal Democrat Group and outgoing Chief Executive Mr. Duncan Sharkey, who it is understood had an increasingly strained relationship with Cllr. Theobald during his leadership of the authority.

As previously reported in the paper, Cllr. Duguid admitted meeting a council officer who had been suspended as part of an on-going inquiry into fraud and mismanagement allegations made against the authority's planning department. Leader of the Opposition, Cllr. Reg Shore, Liberal Democrat (Stow Ward) later alleged at a full council meeting that both Cllr. Parish and Cllr. Theobald were also present at this meeting. The Liberal Democrat Group at West Lindsey will want to make as much hay from this matter as possible in preparation for local elections on Thursday, 6th May 2010. They are fighting to regain control of the authority, which they lost two years ago, and have been sliding backwards, with two by-election defeats and one resignation, ever since.

The second issue which may require an investigation concerns a controversial planning application submitted by Cllr. Theobald to develop a house on land owned by himself, Cllr. Kinch and their respective wives.

West Lindsey District Council Leader Cllr. Duguid is reported to have said he was not surprised the issues were being investigated by the Standards Board and accepted he had made a mistake.

Bernard Theobald Fails In Bid To Rejoin Planning Committee

Related content 'New Political Grouping Formed At West Lindsey District Council'.

Cllr. Bernard Theobald, Independent (Wold View Ward) had requested to rejoin the Planning Committee on West Lindsey District Council after forming a new Independent Group. His request, however, was denied and he will now sit on the investigations and disciplinary committee instead following discussions between the authority's Chief Executive and the main Group Leaders.

At full council on Monday, 25th January 2010, Cllr. Theobald labelled his new position a 'hollow gift'.

Cllr. Theobald formed his new Independent group with another former Conservative, Cllr. Stuart Kinch, Independent, (Torksey Ward), last week in an attempt to secure committee seats for the pair.

Cllr. Kinch had requested to join the Organisation and Resources committee. This request was also denied. He will now sit on the Community and Waste Services committee plus performance management and scrutiny.

Councillors ratified the committee changes at their meeting and officially approved Cllr. Adam Duguid, Conservative (Market Rasen Ward) as the new Leader of the Council and Cllr. Burt Keimach, Conservative (Market Rasen Ward) as Deputy Leader of the Council.

New Political Grouping Formed At West Lindsey District Council

Related content 'Stuart Kinch Resigns for WLDC Conservative Group - Lib Dem Suggests' and 'Bernard Theobald Resigns as Leader of West Lindsey District Council'.

Two former Conservative councillors on West Lindsey District Council have formed a new political faction.

Cllr. Bernard Theobald, Independent (Wold View Ward), former West Lindsey District Council Leader, and Cllr. Stuart Kinch, Independent (Torksey Ward), have joined forces to establish a new Independent Group at the authority.

Cllr. Theobald quit his role as Leader of the Council in mid-December 2009, citing the Lincolnshire Echo investigating a planning application he submitted for a country house. Cllr. Kinch was part-owner of the land at South Owersby, near Market Rasen, included in the proposal, which was bought by the two members and their respective wives for £155,000.

The pair have been independent council members at West Lindsey since December, when Cllr. Theobald had his membership of the Gainsborough Conservative Association suspended for six months and Cllr. Kinch resigned from the Conservative party. Cllr. Kinch was Deputy Chairman (Political) of the Gainsborough Constituency Conservative Association.

The Lincolnshire Echo reported at he time that Cllr. Kinch had said his decision to leave was 'in protest' for the way the Conservative Group had handled the issue and turned it into a 'witch hunt'.

The two councillors have enquired about whether they can hold committee positions at the authority, however, Cllr. Kinch said it remained unclear whether this would be allowed.

Mr. Martin Vickers, Agent for Gainsborough Constituency Conservative Association, said:

"With regard to Cllr. Theobald's relationship with the Conservative Party, it's unchanged. Bernard is suspended for six months while various inquiries go on and our association executive will review that in six months."

It is understood that Cllr. Alan Caine, Independent (Caistor Ward), the only independent on the council before Cllrs. Theobald and Kinch left the Conservative Group's whip refused to form a grouping with them.

Former Council Leader Drops Planning Application

Former Leader of West Lindsey District Council, Cllr. Bernard Theobald, (Wold View Ward), has dropped attempts to build a country house following rejection on appeal the Lincolnshire Echo is reporting.

Cllr. Theobald submitted proposals to develop a five-bedroom property on land he part-owns with colleague Cllr. Stuart Kinch, (Torksey Ward) and their respective wives for £155,000, before drawing up designs to turn the former sawmill site into a residential property at South Owersby in June.

The application was due to go before the council's planning committee with a report recommending it should be approved but was removed after serious concerns were expressed about it. Following the authority's failure to meet a statutory deadline to make a decision, Cllr. Theobald sent an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. But the former leader has now admitted defeat in his bid to build the property on the land after the Planning Inspectorate dismissed his case.

In the report, case inspector Alison Lea said:

"It is clear the council had concerns in respect of the approach adopted by the planning officer in the report marked draft/incomplete.

"Although the council failed to articulate those concerns in any detail, in my opinion the council did have substantive reasons to justify delaying the determination and this is not a case where development which should clearly have been permitted has been prevented or delayed.

"Indeed, I do not agree with the conclusion reached in the draft/incomplete report and have dismissed the appeal."

Cllr. Theobald said:

"It's a standard format – they look at the planning application, take a view and come to a decision.

"You never know which way it will go. That application has run its course."

BBC Radio Lincolnshire is also reporting that the a planning officer who was suspended by West Lindsey District Council has now resigned from the authority.

At a meeting of Nettleham Parish Council it was reported by Cllr. Malcolm Leaning, Liberal Democrat (Nettleham Ward), that Mr. Ian Dickinson, the Planning Officer who was responsible for the Lincoln Rugby Football Club's planning application had been sacked. The Chairman of the Parish Council, Cllr. Terry Williams pointedly requested that Cllr. Leaning wished the minutes to reflect that Mr. Dickinson had been sacked and Cllr. Leaning confirmed that was what he had been told. The following morning Cllr. Leaning clarified, via email, that:

"Although I repeated what I had been directly told last evening - I now have been informed that Ian Dickinson has left WLDC by ‘mutual agreement’.

"He is briefing the temporary Head of Planning today on his outstanding work which will include the ‘Rugby Club’ application."

Stuart Kinch Resigns from WLDC Conservative Group - Lib Dem Suggests

I have just been speaking on the telephone to a Liberal Democrat member of West Lindsey District Council who has suggested to me that Cllr. Stuart Kinch, (Torksey Ward) has resigned as a member of the Conservative Group on West Lindsey District Council. Whilst this report remains unconfirmed if true it is serious.

Left: Cllr. Stuart Kinch.

Cllr. Kinch was elected as a Conservative in the local elections of 2003 and subsequently re-elected in 2007 with a modest majority of 305 votes. In March of this year Cllr. Kinch was elected as one of the Deputy Chairman of the Gainsborough Constituency Conservative Association. Cllr. Kinch was elected as a Conservative County Councillor in June 2009 for the Gainsborough Rural South Division of Lincolnshire County Council.

It is unknown at this time if such a resignation would be consequential to the planning application sought for land purchased with Cllr. Theobald who resigned last week as leader of the council, and has been suspended from the local Conservative Party, and the Audit Commission report into the planning department at West Lindsey District Council.

The Documents, available on the West Lindsey District Council website, for the extraordinary meeting taking place on Monday 14th December 2009, where only the appointment of committees is to be transacted shows the names of:

"Councillor Bernard Theobald"

and

"Councillor Stuart Kinch"

highlighted together with a

"Vacancy (Liberal Democrat)"

which presumably is the space made by the resignation of Peter Heath in November earlier in the year.

Planning Controversy at West Lindsey Embroils Leadership

Further details emerged last night surrounding the investigations into alleged fraud and mismanagement in the Planning Department at West Lindsey District Council.

It has been alleged that Leader of the Council, Cllr. Bernard Theobald, Conservative (Wold View Ward) and a previous chairman of the council’s Planning Committee, submitted a planning application in June 2009 to build a country house on land at South Owersby. Cllr. Theobald it appears had purchased the land with council colleague Cllr. Stuart Kinch, Conservative (Torksey Ward) with their respective wives for the sum of £155,000.

The Audit Commission is currently conducting an investigation into governance issues at the authority, including the planning department. Potential problems in the management of the planning service had been brought to the council’s attention and an internal investigation was being carried out. One officer has been suspended as a neutral act.

At a stormy council meeting last night Leader of the Opposition, Cllr. Reg Shore, Liberal Democrat (Stow Ward) called upon the council to be transparent saying:

"You are all fully aware of what is at stake, as are the public. If you ignore these issues, you may not be forgiven."

The row centres in part on how much of the land had previously been used for residential purposes.

The report stated there was already a house and several static caravans on it, so it would be reasonable to build a five bedroom house there. However, residents and the parish council maintain the buildings had been used for livestock, so developing a large house would not fit within the allowed limits for the land.

The former owner of the land, Mr. Robert Carter, claimed in a letter to the council that he had received advice from council planning officers that such a large development would not be granted planning permission. He sold the land in October 2008 and said he would look for compensation if Cllr. Theobald's application was approved.

In confidential planning documents brought into the public domain by the Lincolnshire Echo, a report was written by a planning officer recommending the application should be approved. However, It was taken off the agenda just days before it was due to be discussed by councillors at a planning committee.

Cllr. Theobald has denied any wrongdoing and said he had no involvement in the planning process. He said his agents were in control of the application and he declared his interest at the earliest opportunity.

"I did not deal with the negotiations and I don't think Cllr. Kinch did.

"The application was handed over to my agents, I have not spoken to planning officers about it.

"I insisted the application had my name on it so there was no doubt of my involvement. I wanted everyone to be aware in the council and I declared an interest.

"There was no doubt I had a practical interest. I never had a meeting on that land about the land with any officer. I spoke to no-one."