The Isle of Wight Council has clarified its position after it faced criticism for calling a crucial meeting about the draft Island planning strategy on a date some councillors could not attend.
Community action group, Sustainable Freshwater, has accused the council’s interim chief executive, Wendy Perera, of “undemocratic behaviour” and “allowing democracy to fall by the wayside” on her watch.
The group said Ms Perera had allowed for an extraordinary meeting of the full council to be scheduled on October 5 when she knew a vast majority of those who were against the current version of the planning strategy could not attend.
The strategy is due to be discussed at the October meeting after the national mourning period for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, saw the previous one cancelled.
The group allege Ms Perera is “deliberately blocking democracy from happening on the Isle of Wight” by allowing the meeting to happen.
Currently, the planning strategy is in its latest draft form, but once approved by the Planning Inspectorate, it would set policies and housing targets developers, builders and the Island would have to abide by.
The decision to hold the extraordinary meeting, however, was not Ms Perera’s.
The Isle of Wight Council has confirmed that was done by the chair of the full council, Cllr Claire Critchison, under statutory powers under the Local Government Act.
A spokesperson said:
“It was, therefore (and could only be) the chair of the Council’s decision to decide the date, for business to be transacted that could not be expected to wait until the next scheduled ordinary council meeting in November 2022.
“Such a decision as to the date is required to be kept under review by the chair and no officer has any power to ‘allow’, as suggested within the letter.”
Last week Cllr Critchison said the decision primarily came down to the need to pass the draft strategy as soon as possible, due to the many crises facing the Island.
However, councillors urged Cllr Critchison to think again over the date as it clashes with other events — including the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, which coincides with proposed national rail strikes, that make it difficult to get back to the Island by the meeting’s 6pm start time.
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