Planning permission for leader's extension revoked

Council leader Samia Haq said a planning agent made an error in the application

A council leader has said "human error" led to planning permission being incorrectly granted for an extension to a garage at her home.

Officers at Oadby and Wigston Borough Council approved an application for the development at Samia Haq's house in August using delegated powers.

However, the authority's rules say that planning applications made by councillors, or their relatives, must be discussed by the council's planning committee.

The council's lawyers said the matter had been investigated and there was "no suggestion of impropriety" by the Liberal Democrat politician - although the planning permission has since been revoked.

Haq said a planning agent had "made a mistake" when filling in the application form for the 1.3m-deep (4.3ft) single-storey front garage extension at her home in Gartree Road, Oadby.

The application, made in June, was prepared and submitted by the agent on behalf of her husband, Zuffar Haq, a Leicester city councillor.

A council report said there had been a complaint made that proper procedures had not been followed.

The report said the application form lodged with officers should have disclosed the leader's relationship to the applicant, but did not.

It said an investigation was then carried out which concluded permission had been issued in error due to "an administrative and procedural oversight" in an "inadvertent mistake by the planning agent".

The council's legal and democratic services manager Samuel Ball told a council meeting last week: "I am satisfied there is no suggestion of any deliberate act of impropriety on behalf of the elected member it concerns - either to elicit any preferential treatment or to circumvent procedures.

"It was a mistake."

No internal inquiry

In a statement, Samia Haq said: "In essence, it was a minor application to extend the existing garage by one metre.

"The application was decided according to policy but because it relates to a member it should have come to committee for approval.

"The agent made a mistake in filling the application form and due to that human error it was missed but as soon as it came to our attention, correct procedure was followed."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said opposition Conservative councillors had called for the council to hold an inquiry into what they called "a serious breach of planning rules".

Naveed Alam, leader of the council's Conservative group, said: "This isn't just an administrative oversight - it's a complete failure of governance at the highest level.

"Blaming the agent for an 'admin error' is a weak excuse."

The council has said no internal inquiry is required.

Zuffar Haq told the BBC he had asked an agent to make the application on his behalf and was expecting the matter to go before the planning committee.

"It was only when permission was granted without it going to [the planning] committee that we realised there had been a mistake," he said.

In an email seen by the BBC, the planning agent apologised for making the error and any inconvenience caused.

Independent councillor Michael Charlesworth said: "I believe it was a genuine error.

"No malice was in this, and none was intended. It was rectified.

"I'm pleased this was caught in time. If this had gone on and building work had started, revocation [of permission] would have been a very tricky thing to deal with."

Adrian Thorpe, head of the built environment at the council, said "Planning officers received this application and initially correctly approved it based on the information provided.

"When it came to light that an error had been made on the application form and this property was owned by the council leader, the process to revoke this approval began, as is the standard process in this situation."