Corby Council holds ANOTHER unlawful meeting

The council is required by law to tell residents five days in advance when a meeting is taking place. The agenda must also be published.

Corby Council has broken the law again by failing to advertise a public meeting.

The local authority held a local plan meeting last Wednesday (Oct 14) but failed to carry out its legal duties by advertising the meeting, which must be done five days before the meeting date.

This is the second time in two months the Labour-run authority has broken the law as last month it failed to advertise the most important meeting of the year – its annual council meeting at which the new mayor Lawrence Ferguson was appointed and long serving leader Tom Beattie was voted in again.

Local authorities are required to make local residents know when they are having a meeting under the Local Authorities Regulations 2012 and an agenda should be published five days in advance. The council’s democratic services department is led by monitoring officer Paul Goult.

A spokesman for the authority said: “Corby Borough Council is investigating why the most recent Local Plan Committee does not appear on our website as per other scheduled meetings. The council can confirm that the meeting was held as per the agenda and summons issued to members.”

A spokesman for the government’s ministry of housing, communities and local government, said: “Local democracy is vital so council proceedings should be transparent and open.

“We’ve changed the rules so councils can hold remote meetings – but they’re expected to hold these meetings in a way that ensures the decision-making process remains accessible to their residents.”

The meeting was videoed and is being hosted on YouTube, so fortunately interested residents can still watch what elected councillors decided.

At the meeting planning officer Terry Begley gave an update on the recent virtual examination of Corby’s local plan.

The inspector has asked the council for more information about its housing land supply and settlement boundaries and will be doing site visits over the coming weeks.

The councillors also discussed the government’s controversial white paper plan to change the way planning works. Local authorities in the area have all objected to the proposals which could see a huge increase in the number of homes built each year in the area.