Speaking at Planning Committees

There seems to be a growing trend for members from other authorities to want to speak at Brent Council planning hearings.

This was true of the meeting I chaired a couple of weeks ago where the Carlton Vale roundabout development was discussed. We had two councillors from Westminster turn up, one of whom spoke. The other one wanted to speak, but I refused him permission, because you have to draw the line somewhere. The legal advisor was of the view that only Brent members should be allowed to speak, but as the Cllr Moss of Maida Vale had already been told that he would be allowed to speak when he attended the site visit, I don't think it would have been fair to refuse him on the night.

There is also the point that we did allow councillors from Camden to speak on the Gaumont State Cinema application on Kilburn High Road.

However, I think it would be a good idea about exactly when we allow people to do this as, at the moment, we don't seem to have a clearly formulated rule, and the practice is becoming more common.