‘Council needs to come clean’

Councillor Adam Zerny has been angered by the way the council has handled the situation and the fact a council officer was responsible for misleading information on the website at the time of the second consultation earlier this year.

He claims if the correct information was put on the website a third consultation in September wouldn’t have been needed.

Councillor Zerny said: “The inspector clearly offered the council extra time.

“Central Beds Council failed to consult properly and this has cost the council taxpayer dearly.

“The council now needs to come clean about how much this has really cost us and stop blaming those who opposed their plan, for its failure.

“The blame lies with those who selected the wrong sites and couldn’t manage the consultation.”

A council statement said: “In June, following a long process of development and consultation, the council submitted what we believed to be a sound Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate.

“However, the Inspector raised numerous issues about the Plan and asked for a considerable amount of additional work to be undertaken in advance of the Examination hearings.

“The council felt that it needed more time to clarify the matters and in light of this, it is with regret that we have withdrawn the Plan.”

Councillor Zerny says the council still refuses to state the real cost of the whole process, only giving a figure of £26,000 for money spent on outside consultants and estimating a total figure of £30,000.

He said: “By implication they are expecting us to believe that a total of £4,000 was the sum total of officers’ time, two consultations, publicity and press, security at meetings and the Planning Inspectorate’s enquiry.”

Many residents across Chronicle Country are also angry at the lack of transparency coming from the council on this issue.

Stotfold resident, Larry Stoter, said: “Central Bedfordshire Council seems to have misled the public on the reasons for withdrawing the Gypsy and Traveller Plan, trying to blame the inspector for not allowing sufficient time to remedy failings and requesting a third public consultation.”