The new planning rules are now irrevocably tainted by the suggestion of cash for access and must be withdrawn….
“The suggestion by Conservative fund raiser Peter Cruddas that £250,000 will buy access to David Cameron and allow you to put policy ideas directly to the Prime Minister, which will then be considered by the 10 Downing Street policy unit and Ministers is grotesque.
Suggestions of cash for access to the Top of the Conservative Party mean David Cameron must postpone the publication of the now irrevocably tainted National Planning Policy Framework and announce an enquiry into when meetings between Ministers and the property lobby took place and what policy suggestions made by the property lobby at those meetings were subsequently put to the No 10 Policy unit and found their way into the proposed new planning rules.”
In a good old fashioned public interest, sting operation, a team of Journalists from the Sunday Times have filmed chief Conservative Party fund raiser Peter Cruddas offering business people access to the top of David Cameron’s Government, including Cameron himself, as well as chief lieutenant Chancellor George Osborne, for a “Premier League” £250,000.
Coming on top of the revelations in the Daily Telegraph [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/hands-off-our-land/9099294/Hands-Off-Our-Land-Property-developers-gave-500000-to-Tories-over-past-six-months.html] that a Conservative donors club, the Property Forum, was charging members £2500 per year for access to “Top Conservatives” at breakfast meetings Mortimer demands that David Cameron comes clean on…
- When were meetings held between Ministers and Junior Ministers belonging to the Government and members of the Property Forum and other companies and organisations representing property developers and the building industry?
- Which suggestions which came out of those meetings were subsequently discussed by the Number 10 Policy Unit, the Treasury and the Department for Communities and Local Government?
In the light of the revelation of how policy is developed in David Cameron’s coalition of Conservatives, Liberal Democrat and Conservative Party Donors, the National Planning Policy Framework, due to be published this week, is so tainted by suggestions of undue influence that it should be withdrawn pending a full review of how it was drafted.
Particularly in light of the fact that, up until September 2011, members of the Property Lobby had enjoyed 28 meetings with ministers since David Cameron came to power. Environment groups had just 11 meetings.
Mortimer says.. “Our Past, Our Future, Our Choice”
“Mortimer” [www.savearchaeology.co.uk] is a non-profit making, non-political, group, campaigning for archaeology and heritage as part of the wider environmental movement.
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