Councillor broke code of conduct with homes vote

A councillor broke his authority's code of conduct by voting on a planning application he had already said he was opposed to, a panel has found.

Stuart Munro, who represents Spencers Wood and Swallowfield on Wokingham Borough Council, shared his "strong objections" over an 81-home plan for Swallowfield.

He then attended a planning committee and voted against the application in January 2024, which the committee rejected. Under the code, councillors should not predetermine applications before meetings.

Munro, a Conservative councillor who has sat on the authority since 2005, said he felt the decision was "nonsense".

He said he submitted his comments about the application a year before they were included in the committee's papers and that he did not participate in its discussion about it.

He added that the application was amended after he had submitted his comments and before the committee rejected it.

Applicant Croudace Homes appealed the council's decision for the site west of Trowes Lane and north of Charlton Lane and had the rejection overturned by the Planning Inspectorate in July 2024.

About 350 people had told the council they too were opposed to the planning application.

The council's standards committee hearings panel found Munro should have declared an interest in the application and not participated in the vote for it.

The panel agreed to ask the authority's monitoring officer to arrange "appropriate training" for Munro on the declaration of interests.

But the panel noted the "concept of predetermination is not straightforward" and is a "complex area of law".