The Local Plan committee met recently. The substantive outcome was that the existing draft of the local plan has been issued for consultation, with the full 12,000 house in it. That seems premature, as we will shortly have a revised estimate of the number of houses required. Given that in the period when the growth in population in Tendring was supposed to be plus 8,500, it actually turned out to be minus 500, it seems entirely possible that the requirement will be reduced. Also, the basis of the population estimates does seem rather odd. Any net addition to the population in Tendring was to come from people retiring from London. This does not support the draft plan’s extra starter homes for new families. It does all seem rather muddled.
Adding to the general confusion is the complaint that has been made against the Conservative councillor, Cllr Guglielmi. He is a director of Lawford Housing Enterprise which may create a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI in the jargon) that he ought to have declared. Failure to declare and register a DPI is a criminal offence and this complaint has been referred to Essex Police, who are investigating. Cllr Gugliemi was chairman of the Local Plan Committee and he stood down from that role at the meeting. Cllr Stock, another Conservative Country Club member, was immediately elected as chairman to replace Cllr Gugliemi. No surprises so far. Then Cllr Gugliemi is nominated and seconded by his Country Club colleagues to be vice-chairman. Inevitably, given the Country Club dominance on the committee, he is elected. In what way his actions bar him from being chairman but allow him to be vice-chairman, is beyond me.