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City rebuttal of election material
Tuesday 6th May 2008
Officials at the City of Durham Council are to investigate a formal complaint in relation to election material circulated within the Elvet electoral division of the City about the proposed development of Elvet Riverside.
Cllr Nigel van Zwanenberg, Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning and Regeneration said today,
"The City of Durham Council and its planning section are well aware of their responsibilities in relation to planning issues and have acted scrupulously. It is extremely regrettable that an incorrect statement was published by people who were not authorised to do so."
For the record Council officers are aware of the strong public interest in the planning application for Elvet Waterside but are adopting and applying the same procedures to deal with the proposals from Banks as they would with any other major development scheme.
On 20 March chief planning officer, David Thornborrow advised The Banks Group by letter to consider withdrawing the planning application in its current form for Elvet Waterside. Officers have a responsibility to issue advice to developers on aspects of their schemes taking account of national, regional and local policies, as well as development or design parameters and the views of consultees that will shape any revisions to the scheme.
Since that time, the scheme has been revised and progressed to address the objections as is normal practice in planning matters.
The Executive Director, David Marrs as Deputy Returning Officer will be carrying out a full investigation in the complaint.