Quote:
Originally Posted by spreadsheet
Situation is - here in South Wales
lots of corruption with regard to granting planning permissions and use of shops etc
I know 100% that it goes on and I can practically pinpoint the bloke (or at least one of them) who takes the money. Thing is is that it's all hearsay if done in cash.
In an honest society you'd be in a rush to contribute to society - any pointers on this touchy issue?
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My experience is that little can be done, in our local authority there is blatant corruption. There has been some allegations and a number of investigations, but having evidence of corruption is difficult. There have been allegations that backhanders are collected on behalf of the head of planning who himself does not make direct contact with the paying applicant.
I went to a planning meeting regarding an obviously corrupt application, I had my 10 minutes to give my speech and the questions I raised were unanswered. I raised points that clearly indicated that the local authority were either completely incompetent or being paid by the builder.
They were more concerned or should I say furious that I had walked on-site and made measurements to prove the building bore little resemblance to the plans. They had no answer for the fact that the planning stipulations they made at the previous application for materials and colours etc had been ignored.
I guess it's what you get after having a Labour council in charge for about 90 years.
Oh, don't go suggesting it's just a matter of voting them out because that was tried. The group of independents who were voted in were paid a reasonably large sum of money each to sit on committees if they allowed the existing Labour council to continue in office.