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A council leader has defended an overspend of almost £200,000 on consultants for fighting two planning appeals.
Leader of Swale council, Cllr Roger Truelove (Lab), said going £192,000 above the authority’s budget for defending applications was “the cost of democracy”.
The amount was revealed in a report presented to Swale’s scrutiny committee.
The money, described as “consultancy costs” was used to help defend plans for up to 700 homes at Barton Hill Drive , Minster, Sheppey , which was subsequently given the go-ahead by an inspector, and 675 of homes at Wises Lane in Borden , near Sittingbourne , which is awaiting a decision.
However, the full cost is likely to be much higher.
Cllr James Hunt (Con), opposition spokesman for planning, put in a Freedom of Information request which revealed the Barton Hill Drive challenge alone stands at £294,000 overall. That could rise to £470,000 if costs are awarded to the developer.
He added: “I am concerned only the figure of £192,000 has been published as it appears to indicate that these are the only costs spent on two appeals.
“It is clearly not the case. I am surprised that the scrutiny report didn’t give the details of all costs involved in both appeals, rather than just the consultants’ fees.”
Cllr Truelove said: “I’d rather we didn’t have to spend that sort of money on planning appeals. The fact is these sites were very controversial with lots of councillors being elected because of their robust position on these upcoming appeals.
“It’s the cost of democracy. Local people want the council to speak to their views and we’ve got a moral obligation to see these appeals through.”
A Swale council spokesman said: “If the planning committee refuses an application that is appealed by the developer, we need to consider if we believe we can fight the case on behalf of local people or not.
“With Wises Lane and Barton Hill Drive, the planning committee made clear decisions, and we have spent what we believe was necessary to defend the decisions made by the democratically elected members.”
