Conflicts of Interest

Friends of Dean Row has been concerned about the serious potential conflicts of interest involved in the Wilmslow Vision process for some time.  At the meeting at Dean Row Village Hall on 20 April, we outlined the work which Broadway Malyan (the "independent" consultancy selected to run the Wilmslow Vision process) has previously done with housing developers active in Wilmslow and Cheshire East.

At that meeting, Councillor Michael Jones, head of Cheshire East Council elect, promised in the clearest possible terms to thoroughly investigate any links between Broadway Malyan and developers owning Green Belt land in Wilmslow.  He said he would confirm what conflict checks were undertaken as part of the appointment process.  We provided him with the evidence below, and asked whether these potential conflicts were fully and properly disclosed to Cheshire East at the time of Broadway Malyan's appointment.  Unfortunately, almost four weeks on, we have had no answer to this question.  In fact, we have stopped receiving responses from the Council altogether, so until we get anything more constructive from them, please see the information below for yourselves and decide whether you believe there is a conflict of interest here or not.

Below we will provide links which demonstrate that Broadway Malyan ("BM") has previously acted for Taylor Wimpey (which owns land in both of sites Ba and Bb) and Jones Homes (which owns land in site Ba).

Broadway Malyan has acted for Taylor Wimpey

Taylor Wimpey owns significant areas of land in both of sites Ba and Bb, and is lobbying for their development.  Here is a link which clearly demonstrates that Taylor Wimpey has been a client of BM:

http://ldfconsult.basingstoke.gov.uk/portal/fpt/core_strategy/issue_and_options_response_form?page=2&pageSize=20&tab=list&sortMode=response_date

BM acted on behalf of Taylor Wimpey in relation to Basingstoke's Issues and Options paper.  This is far from an isolated case, as a quick Google search of Broadway Malyan Taylor Wimpey shows.  

Broadway Malyan has acted for Jones Homes

Jones Homes owns significant areas of land in site Bc.  Yet BM acted for Jones Homes (in conjunction with Muller Property Group) in pushing for a housing development near Nantwich, which caused uproar with local residents due to the way in which the local community felt ambushed by Broadway Malyan's "consultation".  See the links below.

http://nantwich-news.co.uk/wordpress/2012/01/30/muller-and-jones-homes-unveils-nantwich-south-community-plan/

http://nantwich-news.co.uk/wordpress/2012/02/07/muller-and-jones-face-angry-residents-over-nantwich-south-housing-plan/

http://www.protectstapeley.org.uk/Stapeley/Documents_files/Broadway%20Malyan%20on%20behalf%20of%20Muller%20Property,%20South%20of%20Nantwich%202010.pdf

The similarities between BM's Nantwich document and their Wilmslow Vision are very striking! One of the key differences though is that whilst the Nantwich document is overtly branded as being on behalf of a developer, the Wilmslow Vision document was stamped as being a Cheshire East document!

Broadway Malyan already have a published position against development of Cheshire East's Green Belt

On behalf of Muller Property Group, BM submitted a response to the Cheshire East Issues and Options Paper.  This is contained in the document  Broadway Malyan on behalf of Muller Property 17 12 2010.pdf which is found on Cheshire East's own website: http://cheshireeast-consult.limehouse.co.uk/common/search/advanced_search.jsp?id=459630&sortMode=response_date&lookingFor=representations&tab=list

On page 12, BM clearly states that of the four Spatial Options considered in Cheshire East's draft Issues and Options Consultation paper (2010), they say that "Option 1 is the only strategy which would be able to deliver the level of growth which Cheshire East have signed up to and are seeking to achieve.  This option focuses on Crewe allowing it to become the main driver for growth... ".  As already set out by Friends of Dean Row, Option 1 would mean a maximum of 640 new houses for Wilmslow.  So why on earth did BM inform the people of Wilmslow that they needed to propose sites for 1,500 houses?

BM goes on to say: "The release of Green Belt Land should be the last resort and only be considered as a viable proposal where there are no other viable alternative options available. In this case the release of Green Belt land is unjustified given that there are other more sustainable alternatives... The release of Green Belt Land around the smaller towns and villages and key service centres in the north of the borough is likely to have an adverse impact on the established character of these more rural parts of the borough."

For once, we completely agree with Broadway Malyan! It just makes it even more difficult to understand why every site (except one) that was proposed for development in the Wilmslow Vision is Green Belt.

Conclusion

We should not be surprised that BM has acted for housing developers in the past, and we are not suggesting that anything illegal is taking place.  However, the following questions remain unanswered:

- Was best practice followed by Cheshire East when appointing Broadway Malyan?

- Were proper conflict checks undertaken?

- Were the relationships with Taylor Wimpey, Jones Homes, and others, properly disclosed as part of their appointment?

- As a condition of being appointed on the Wilmslow Vision, has Broadway Malyan contractually agreed not to work for any property developer in relation to any housing developments in Cheshire East over the period which the Local Plan will be in place (ie until 2030)?

Given that clear potential conflicts of interest appear to exist, is it clear who is really running the Wilmslow Vision process? Is it Cheshire East? Or is it Broadway Malyan? Read this account of the process from one member of the Advisory Stakeholder Group, and come to your own conclusions! www.wilmslow.co.uk/news/article/6315/wilmslow-vision-process-thoughts-of-a-stakeholder

The residents of Wilmslow demand answers to these questions from their Councillors.

Meeting at the Village Hall with the Council

The council has announced a meeting at Dean Row Village Hall, to be held at 5:15pm to 7:30pm this Wednesday, 16 May.


Councillors and planners will be present to answer questions about the Wilmslow Vision process.


Despite the unequivocal support shown by councillors at our meeting last month, there have been very few firm answers given to the questions we've asked.  Please use this opportunity to pose your questions to the people in power directly, and demand some straight answers.


See you there.

Minutes of the public meeting with Councillors, 20 April

NOTES MADE DURING THE MEETING on                                                                                                                                FRIDAY 20^th APRIL                                                                                                                                                                             DEAN ROW VILLAGE HALL

·         Several members of the public said that they had no warning of the Draft Wilmslow Vision Consultation (DWVC).

·         The maps in the brochure very unclear.

·         Who are the stakeholders? They weren’t representing me! How were they selected?

·         MICHAEL JONES, Leader of CEC –elect, said that ‘It was not good enough’!

·         Cllr PAUL WHITELEY, CEC Dean Row, explained how he had served Dean Row for many years and was a vigorous supporter of the retention of green belt. All landowners, he said, were entitled to apply for planning permission on their respective pieces of land. Currently this is happening throughout CE for the CE Local Plan.  In the past, he told the meeting, that he had defended the green belt in Dean Row and would continue to do so.

·         MICHAEL JONES said that the two plots of land (Ba & Bb) would not be in the plan He added that if he had known that this land was going to be put in the plan he would have had it removed!

·         Cllr JIM CROCKATT, Chairman of Wilmslow Town Council, reminded all that he had represented Dean Row for years and he was ‘not going to stop now’. He also vouched for all his councillor colleagues. He also voiced concern over the amount of time given to the residents to return their questionnaires. He thought that the Council had contacted all the residents to tell them about the DWVC. The audience clearly did not agree with this assumption and made their feelings felt. We were then told that the date for returning questionnaires has now been extended by one month to 31^st May.

·         The meeting’s Chairman said that it was a disgrace that we had not been told and also added that a key module of information was missing from the report even though this had been promised in earlier Council material – that of the important Sustainability Report.

·         PAUL WHITELEY covered the topic of the Safeguarded land. This is land for houses when needed. In the case of plot Bc in Dean Row he explained that this land had been considered in the previous plan and had been rejected and held its status. In his opinion plot Bc will remain as Safeguarded house supply land but would not be the first choice.

·         MANUEL GOLDING from Lindow Common/Fulshaw suggested that the ‘structure’ of Wilmslow is creaking. He is working with a small action group in his area.  He wants all the District action groups to work together to fight the DWVC as one organisation. This he felt would stop residents merely defending their own patches. There was much support shown to this plea.

·         ONE LADY called for a single meeting for the whole of Wilmslow in a larger hall. The meeting Chairman agreed that the Friends of Dean Row would be happy to work with a united Wilmslow faction.

·         Several members of the public criticised the Broadway Malyan report and questionnaire. Serious doubts were raised regarding the quality of the stakeholder group. To much applause one gentleman said that the people in the hall are a better representation of stakeholders than those selected by Broadway Malyan as the residents are the one who buy their homes, educate their children, shop and pay their rates in the town. Another resident criticised the construction of the questionnaire. This, he said, was a joke and any research deriving from it would be worthless. Many at the meeting called for its withdrawal.

·         Following a specific question about the green belt land Ha & Hb to the north of Handforth Road MICHAEL JONES informed the meeting that neither plots would be built on.

·         MICHAEL JONES was also asked how the figure of 1,500 new homes in the Plan had been arrived at. He told the meeting that it had come from an ‘academic’ within the Broadway Mulyan team.

·         A LADY said that she did not want the character of Dean Row to change and asked how she could object. By returning the questionnaire she was told.

·         BRIAN WINTERBURN thought that the Dean Row area had had enough development thrust upon them over recent years and that enough was enough. With Colshaw Farm, Summerfields, the By-Pass, and the perceived impact from the Woodford Aerodrome development to our corner of the town we should be left alone. He also considered that the Handforth is struggling already and couldn’t cope with further residents.

·         ONE GENTLEMAN asked if the process was a plebiscite. He was told by MICHAEL JONES that it was not – it was a consultancy!

·         When asked how one should respond to the questions regarding building on green belt MICHAEL JONES advised to say no to everything.

·         MICHAEL JONES remarked that he did not agree with the DWVC document’s figure of 1,500 new homes. He thought that there were enough brown field sites in Wilmslow to cover the house requirements throughout the period.

·         CHRISTY WILKIE from the Dean Row Chapel told the meeting that the Chapel was a grade two star listed building built without foundations. More traffic along Adlington Road could destroy the foundations and we could lose over 400 years of that heritage.

·         Questions were asked about the inadequate site map in the Broadway Malyan document. The Friends of Dean Row will attempt to put the link on their blog site showing the site plans and planners involved.  An appeal to include brown field sites was made by BRIAN WINTERBURN.

·         MICHAEL JONES was asked by what process was Broadway Mulyan appointed to their task and how much was the cost and was he aware that one of BM’s clients is Wimpey who own one of the sites Ba in Dean Row. Mr Jones said they paid £30,000 for the report and that if he finds out that BN do have Wimpey as a client will ask for the money back and BM will never work for the Council again. If he’d know that BM would not have got the business in the first place.

·         One Resident said that there was no future for a theatre or cinema in the town.

·         When asked when a decision might be made on the DWVC, MICHAEL JONES advised that it would be in the autumn (November). The sites will all then be discussed and an evaluation of all the brown sites will be evaluated in conjuction with the needs.

·         The Chairman of the meeting re-visited the missing and promised sustainability report in the document. MICHAEL JONES said he would look into it. Another Councillor suggested that it could be available in about a month’s time.

·         There was general agreement that strong local response is vital. The meeting Chairman was asked by a lady resident whether he was ready to lead a campaign to carry the torch forward as a combined force. Commenting that we all want no part of this document and must, absolutely, work together. 

·         When asked whether the Council would publish the details of their stakeholder consultations MICHAEL JONES said ‘Why not! I think we will publish it’!

·         A local business man offered to pay half the costs incurred by the ‘Friends of Dean Row’ on receipt of an invoice.

·         A vote of thanks was made to the Chairman of the meeting and he closed the meeting at 8.50 pm and the 200 attendees went home.

Car "stickers" - show your support and spread the word!

To help publicise the plight of Wilmslow's Green Belt, one of the Friends of Dean Row has kindly put together this "sticker" to put in your car!

You should be able to download a copy of the image by right clicking on it.  If not, please email us on savedeanrow@gmail.com and we will email a copy.

Over 100 signatures on the e-Petition!

Just five days since the petition went live, the number of signatures has already exceeded the threshold of 100 required in order for it to be automatically brought to the attention of the head of the Planning Department of Cheshire East!


Thank you so much for showing your support! :)


Now let's see how many more we can add in the seven weeks that the petition will remain open for...


http://moderngov.cheshireeast.gov.uk/ecminutes/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=17

Over 2,000 website hits!

2,314 to be precise! The support we're getting is massive.  Apologies if you've emailed us and we haven't had a chance to reply yet - we will get back to you all!

Sign the petition!

I'm delighted to say that Cheshire East has now approved our petition against development or any release of Green Belt in Dean Row! Please follow the link below to make your voice heard!

http://moderngov.cheshireeast.gov.uk/ecminutes/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=17

Please feel free to pass this link on to as many friends and neighbours as you like, and remember that everyone in a particular household can sign it, not just one person.

Signing this petition is not a substitute for submitting a questionnaire, so please do both if you can! The deadline for questionnaires is now 31st May 2012.

Thanks again for all your support.