A SENIOR councillor involved in a controversial planning decision was advised to stay away from voting, an investigation has found.
An independent person, who was a former monitoring officer from another local authority, has investigated if Cllr Ross McWilliams (Con: Cox Green), lead member for housing, breached three of the council’s code of conduct.
The probe’s conclusion does not mean Cllr McWilliams is guilty of these allegations as the report will go to a Royal Borough member sub-committee where panellists will have the final determination.
Nineteen complaints were submitted against Cllr McWilliams, alleging he did not declare his connection to the scheme’s developer CALA Homes or past support for the application as an interest when the controversial plans were approved against officer recommendations, bringing the council in ‘disrepute’.
The plans involved building 80 homes, nearly 50 per cent were affordable housing, on open space land in Ray Mill Road East known as Deerswood Meadow.
Despite officers recommending it for refusal for the third time due to flooding concerns and its impact on open space, the ruling Tories sitting on November’s Maidenhead development management panel approved the plans.
CALA Homes would later withdraw the plans when it was ‘called in’ by the Secretary of State.
Cllr McWilliams, who resigned from the planning panel in January, proposed to go against officer recommendations as the proposed affordable housing would reduce the council’s “full” housing waiting list.
READ MORE: Contentious Maidenhead 80 homes plan withdrawn suddenly
However, at the meeting, he did not declare he worked for a company called BECG, which does public relations on behalf of CALA Homes, nor did he declare he spoke positively of the application on social media in the past.
Cllr McWilliams was an account director at BECG, which was inputted on his register of interests on the council’s website, but no longer works at the company.
On April 30, 2021, on which Cllr McWilliams was not a member or substitute of the planning panel, he tweeted: “Big decision coming up on Ray Mill Road East – big opportunity for new Borough-owned affordable housing”.
However, a leaked report seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed Royal Borough monitoring officer Emma Duncan advised Cllr McWilliams via email that given his past support of the scheme, it would be ‘wisest’ to exclude himself.
Cllr McWilliams disputes this was ‘unequivocal support’ and said he approached the scheme with an open mind.
But Cllr McWilliams ignored this advice and voted on the application. Ms Duncan said in a follow-up email that she does not have the power to remove members if there is predetermination, bias, or even if they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.
During that time, BECG was bidding on the CALA Homes contract. Ms Duncan told Cllr McWilliams to ‘stay clear’ of the bidding process as it could look like he was using his influence as a member to secure the CALA account.
READ MORE: Maidenhead councillor responds to backlash over private employer
However, she was not aware the PR firm secured the bid until November’s planning meeting.
She said had she known about this, her advice would be ‘firmer’ but maintained the view that Cllr McWilliams would not benefit personally or financially from the approved plans.
The report suggests the independent person cleared Cllr McWilliams of failing to declare an interest and ‘using influence to the advantage of himself and others,’ but did conclude his actions did bring ‘disrepute’ to the council.
Despite the independent person’s conclusion, the matter is still ongoing as the Royal Borough’s members standard sub-committee will make the final decision whether he is guilty or not of breaching the code of conduct.
READ MORE: Maidenhead councillor responds to housing plan backlash
Because of this, Cllr McWilliams said he could not comment when contacted by the LDRS.
However, Cllr McWilliams said in the report he had ‘no personal benefit’ from projects or clients and he did not work on any projects relating to CALA Homes or within the Royal Borough as he had a ‘contractual firewall’ that prevented him to do so. He added he should have declared his interests at the meeting in hindsight.
A date for the sub-committee has not been confirmed but is believed to be in August.
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