mcshane in the 79th
New member
- Nov 4, 2005
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Apologies if this has been posted elsewehere, but here goes...
Prescott's own goal over new football stadium decision
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
(Filed: 31/12/2005)
John Prescott has been accused of conduct unbecoming to a minister after accepting hospitality from Brighton and Hove Albion football club while the planning permission he granted its new stadium is still being contested.
He is also accused of having met at least one of the club's directors while the planning application was being considered, in a way that may have compromised his semi-judicial role as head of the planning system. The complaints have been made in a letter to the Prime Minister from Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes in Sussex, and in submissions from Lewes district council to the High Court.
Mr Prescott took the unusual step of overruling the advice of two planning inspectors when on Oct 27 he gave planning permission to the football club for a 22,000 seat stadium at Falmer, in the Sussex Downs area of outstanding natural beauty, shortly to become a national park.
The club lost its Hove stadium in 1997, when the site was sold for development by a former owner and is in temporary accommodation at Withdean athletics stadium.
Its application to build at Falmer has been the subject of a vigorous campaign by thousands of club supporters, local celebrities such as the DJ, Fatboy Slim, by Brighton's three 1997-intake Labour MPs, opposition parliamentary candidates and MPs.
The site at Falmer has been opposed equally vigorously by Lewes council which says that Mr Prescott has overlooked the effect of the development, in one of the best preserved South Downs villages, on the proposed national park.
Lewes served papers in the High Court on Dec 8 appealing against Mr Prescott's grant of planning permission, saying he had made a series of errors in understanding planning law. If the appeal succeeds, the case will be referred back to Mr Prescott for reconsideration.
On Dec 16, Mr Prescott watched his team Hull beaten 2-1 by Brighton at the Withdean stadium. He dined in the boardroom with the Albion chairman, Dick Knight, and directors of both clubs.
Afterwards he received a standing ovation from Albion supporters before posing for a photograph with members of the Falmer for All campaign.
John Crawford, the chief executive of Lewes council, wrote to his MP, Mr Baker, complaining that Mr Prescott's behaviour went against the Ministerial Code which states that ministers should avoid accepting any gift or hospitality which might, or reasonably appear to, compromise their judgment.
Mr Baker said: "The whole thing is outrageous. If a local councillor behaved in this way, taking hospitality while a case is live, he could be barred from office under the rules established by the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister.
"I have written to the Prime Minister demanding that Mr Prescott be removed from the case and that he plays no part in it. If the council succeeds in court it should be another minister that considers the case because he has compromised his position."
Mr Baker forced Mr Prescott's department to admit, in a parliamentary answer, that he met Derek Chapman, a director of Brighton football club, when he opened the headquarters of a company of which Mr Chapman is a director in Portslade, Hove, on May 13, 2003.
Ministers are not meant to be lobbied by developers or protesters when considering planning applications. Yvette Cooper, a junior minister in Mr Prescott's department, told the Commons that Mr Prescott had not been aware Mr Cooper was a director of the football club at the time.
Mr Baker has still to receive a reply to a question about whether Mr Prescott had discussions with his fellow MPs about planning permission for the stadium. He is also concerned that Mr Prescott may have accepted a petition and letters urging him to approve the stadium in December 2003, six weeks after a public inquiry closed.
Critics also accuse Mr Prescott of hinting as to his decision in his party conference speech in Brighton, a month before permission for the stadium was given, after campaigners said Labour owed Brighton a favour for returning three Labour MPs.
A spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, a civil servant, admitted he had been with Mr Prescott at the match on Dec 16. He said: "The only time the Deputy Prime Minister visited the ground was with both sets of directors. His responsibility ended when he made his decision. His attendance to watch his team playing will not affect that decision if the court refers it back to him. Our legal advice is that this does not preclude his taking the decision in future."
Prescott's own goal over new football stadium decision
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
(Filed: 31/12/2005)
John Prescott has been accused of conduct unbecoming to a minister after accepting hospitality from Brighton and Hove Albion football club while the planning permission he granted its new stadium is still being contested.
He is also accused of having met at least one of the club's directors while the planning application was being considered, in a way that may have compromised his semi-judicial role as head of the planning system. The complaints have been made in a letter to the Prime Minister from Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes in Sussex, and in submissions from Lewes district council to the High Court.
Mr Prescott took the unusual step of overruling the advice of two planning inspectors when on Oct 27 he gave planning permission to the football club for a 22,000 seat stadium at Falmer, in the Sussex Downs area of outstanding natural beauty, shortly to become a national park.
The club lost its Hove stadium in 1997, when the site was sold for development by a former owner and is in temporary accommodation at Withdean athletics stadium.
Its application to build at Falmer has been the subject of a vigorous campaign by thousands of club supporters, local celebrities such as the DJ, Fatboy Slim, by Brighton's three 1997-intake Labour MPs, opposition parliamentary candidates and MPs.
The site at Falmer has been opposed equally vigorously by Lewes council which says that Mr Prescott has overlooked the effect of the development, in one of the best preserved South Downs villages, on the proposed national park.
Lewes served papers in the High Court on Dec 8 appealing against Mr Prescott's grant of planning permission, saying he had made a series of errors in understanding planning law. If the appeal succeeds, the case will be referred back to Mr Prescott for reconsideration.
On Dec 16, Mr Prescott watched his team Hull beaten 2-1 by Brighton at the Withdean stadium. He dined in the boardroom with the Albion chairman, Dick Knight, and directors of both clubs.
Afterwards he received a standing ovation from Albion supporters before posing for a photograph with members of the Falmer for All campaign.
John Crawford, the chief executive of Lewes council, wrote to his MP, Mr Baker, complaining that Mr Prescott's behaviour went against the Ministerial Code which states that ministers should avoid accepting any gift or hospitality which might, or reasonably appear to, compromise their judgment.
Mr Baker said: "The whole thing is outrageous. If a local councillor behaved in this way, taking hospitality while a case is live, he could be barred from office under the rules established by the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister.
"I have written to the Prime Minister demanding that Mr Prescott be removed from the case and that he plays no part in it. If the council succeeds in court it should be another minister that considers the case because he has compromised his position."
Mr Baker forced Mr Prescott's department to admit, in a parliamentary answer, that he met Derek Chapman, a director of Brighton football club, when he opened the headquarters of a company of which Mr Chapman is a director in Portslade, Hove, on May 13, 2003.
Ministers are not meant to be lobbied by developers or protesters when considering planning applications. Yvette Cooper, a junior minister in Mr Prescott's department, told the Commons that Mr Prescott had not been aware Mr Cooper was a director of the football club at the time.
Mr Baker has still to receive a reply to a question about whether Mr Prescott had discussions with his fellow MPs about planning permission for the stadium. He is also concerned that Mr Prescott may have accepted a petition and letters urging him to approve the stadium in December 2003, six weeks after a public inquiry closed.
Critics also accuse Mr Prescott of hinting as to his decision in his party conference speech in Brighton, a month before permission for the stadium was given, after campaigners said Labour owed Brighton a favour for returning three Labour MPs.
A spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, a civil servant, admitted he had been with Mr Prescott at the match on Dec 16. He said: "The only time the Deputy Prime Minister visited the ground was with both sets of directors. His responsibility ended when he made his decision. His attendance to watch his team playing will not affect that decision if the court refers it back to him. Our legal advice is that this does not preclude his taking the decision in future."
Prescott !!!
