INCINERATOR: Twin-hatters have legal headache - Martin
THERE is “a little local difficulty” that needs to be resolved rather quickly, says solicitor and campaigner John Martin.
I have consistently argued that if the Saddlebow burner is ever built, it will be a disaster, not only for King’s Lynn and the surrounding areas but also for the whole of Norfolk.
Needless to say, I was therefore delighted by West Norfolk Borough Council’s unanimous decision on Thursday to launch a High Court challenge to Caroline Spelman’s award of waste infrastructure credits to Norfolk County Council. It justly deserves our thanks and congratulations.
However, its decision has - as an incidental matter - brought to the surface what that wild old Tory politician Harold Macmillan would probably have described as “a little local difficulty”. When he used that expression, you knew that something of fairly calamitous proportions was wrong. I am afraid that it is the case now.
Seven members of the borough council face a conflict of interest that, possibly in the earlier stages of the burner saga, could just about be managed but certainly cannot be managed now that litigation is about to commence.
They are councillors Chenery, Harwood, Humphrey, Langwade, Long, White and Wright. What they have in cocommon is the fact that they are all members of the county council also. To make matters worse, concillors Harwood and Humphrey are additionally members of the county council cabinet, which voted collectively to award the contract to Cory Wheelbrator.
So, we have the borough council issuing heavyweight proceedings with a view to preventing the government paying out to the county council the equivalent of £169m over a 25-year period, and the county council almost certain to do all that it can as an interested party to those proceedings to defeat the borough council’s claim.
While a local authority has considerable statutory powers to withhold information from the public where circumstances warrant it, the same does not apply in the case of its members.
As members of the borough council, for instance, councillor Chenery and his colleagues will be privy to knowledge and information about the borough council’s case that might greatly assist the county council. Of course, as members of the county council, the reverse applies. Deliberate absence from meetings - hardly in the interests of those whom they were elected to represent - or the erection of Chinese walls will simply not cure the problem. Their position is untenable.
(Could you imagine, for instance, a situation last year where members of Michael de Whalley’s support team were assisting him with his judicial review claim for part of their time, and assisting Cory Wheelbrator with its response for the rest of their time?)
Therefore, the only correct solution is for each to resign from one seat or the other and allow by-elections to take place quickly.
This may seem harsh, but let us be realistic. The advantages of being a “twin-hatter” are considerable, including two sets of allowances. (In fact, half the members of the county council at the moment are twin-hatters).
But the disadvantages are also present, and a major one has now come home to roost. Each should have known that there was always a possibility of this happening. Two other twin hatters, for instance, clearly recognised it when they decided last year not to stand again for election to the borough council.
I do have a degree of personal sympathy with the position of councillor Long. He is very much the odd one out because he has, for some time, argued that the borough council badly needs to find a non-incineration alternative to landfill and he has worked hard in that direction.
Within County Hall, this has probably cost him dearly. But I would suggest that his prospects of a long-term future within the Tory group there are fairly poor.
And leaving County Hall would enhance his reputation even more in these parts. Sadly, therefore, he should still take that step.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
chrisalys
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 05:20 PMThe twin-hatters really need to decide whether they want to represent their constituents or "cosy-up" with Murphy. There is no way we can trust them to be on the side of the people of King's Lynn unless they relinquish their posts on the County Council. So come on Lynn News let's have a voting slip in the paper. Should they be allowed to sit in on Borough Council Meetings when the Incinerator is discussed and should they resign sooner rather than later?
littletony
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 10:01 PMA dodgy lot in every respect in my opinion. A few years back the whole lot at Kingâs Lynn wanted the burner or could not be bothered to read their paperwork. Either scenario leaves a nasty taste. They say one thing and behind closed doors other things happen. You raise a good point or two but you are on a hiding to nothing because the deal is done and all they are doing is a public relations exercise. Whatever Long has to say can be taken with a bucket load of salt. He changes his tune every week on most things. Read what he had to say in the past and then see what he says now. My view is the he is a jumped up local politician that cannot be trusted. Whatâs new ? Someone said that he used to be a double glazing salesman before deciding on a âcareerâ collecting expenses and allowances from the taxpayer.
Clean Air Voter
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 07:24 PMHutson, Rockcliffe, Murphyâs have also neglected their duty as County Councillors. Opposition should be leafleting residents to build up momentum for next yearâs County elections.
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