A LEADING councillor has been urged to remove himself from voting on the borough local plan over his connection to a private development company.

Earlier this month, councillor Ross McWilliams (Con: Cox Green), lead member for housing, stepped down from vice-chair of the Maidenhead development management panel after he proposed to defer a controversial planning application to build 80-homes at Ray Mill Road East in November.

This triggered questions over his connection with the developer of the scheme, Cala Homes. the Tory councillor works as an account director for Built Environment Communications Group, which do public relations on behalf of Cala Homes.

Cllr McWilliams didn’t declare this as an interest at the meeting, which was called out by Liberal Democrat councillor John Baldwin (Belmont).

Slough Observer: CALA Homes had their 80-homes plan defered and delegated to the head of planningCALA Homes had their 80-homes plan defered and delegated to the head of planning

The lead member insisted the monitoring officer found no conflict of interest after he took advice from her when his employer took on Cala Homes as a client. His private employers can also be found on his register of interests on the council’s website.

Since then, Cllr McWilliams resigned as vice-chair of the panel, saying it was for his “own mental health and integrity; and the reputation and perceived integrity of [the council’s] planning process”. He also stood down to focus on his cabinet responsibilities.

But with the borough local plan, which sets out where thousands of homes will be built within the Royal Borough, being contentious, the lead member has been urged to recuse himself from voting on it next month.

This is because of the Maidenhead golf course, which would be earmarked for over 2,000 homes, where Cala Homes are expected to bring forward a planning application once the local plan is adopted.

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In a statement, Cllr McWilliams said: “Specifically on the local plan, I will follow the advice of the monitoring officer, who has continued to reiterate that there is no pecuniary interest resulting from my employment, not least because I am not permitted to work on any projects in RBWM and because of the strong protections I specifically requested be inserted into my contract that prevent me from working with Cala Homes.

“I have been advised that if a councillor has a non-pecuniary personal interest, including being a member of an outside body, they should disclose that interest, but then may still speak and vote on that particular item. I will certainly be declaring this as a personal interest in the meeting for transparency.

“With over 1,000 local residents on RBWM’s housing register, it is disappointing that many opposition councillors have publicly stated their opposition to the local plan, which could deliver thousands of new affordable homes, including homes for social rent.

“To ensure fairness to all those residents on RBWM’s housing register, I wonder whether all councillors that have publicly opposed the local plan will be recusing themselves from the vote.

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“I somehow doubt it. However, perhaps the opposition will finally start supporting affordable homes for those local people that are increasingly struggling with high rents and unable to get onto the housing market in their home areas.”

Cllr McWilliams also wrote his ‘personal integrity’ had been “attacked” by people via social media since the scrutiny of his employment began before Christmas, affecting his mental health.

He said: “The cruelty behind some of the relentless social media posts and messages against me were at points intolerable – I had someone say that they were “after” me and that they were “out for blood”.

“As I have previously stated, it is incidences like this that I believe turn a lot of people away from politics, whether that is to stand as a representative, or take part more generally – I hope in the future that political challenge and scrutiny can become less threatening and more professional for the sake of future engagement.”