CONTROVERSY surrounding a development on land owned by the leader of the district council has surfaced in the country’s best selling news and current affairs magazine.
Plans to build 21 homes at Clay Green Farm in Alfrick were rejected by Malvern Hills District Council’s planning committee on February 5 but the sensitive application reared its head once more in Private Eye last Wednesday (February 18).
Coun John Raine called the meeting the most intimidating and difficult he had been in as the proposals were for Coun David Hughes’ land, but members were consistently reminded to focus on the application for its ‘planning merits alone’.
But Private Eye has taken a different slant and in its article titled ‘Hughes Sorry Now’ it outlines the controversial issues behind the plans.
“Locals were outraged by the application to build 21 houses in the Worcestershire village of Alfrick on a site owned by David Hughes, Tory leader of MHDC,” it said.
“It followed a number of planning decisions at MHDC which have benefited councillors financially.
“Back in 2013, a third MHDC Tory councillor, Roger Cousins, had a development for 50 houses passed on land he owned in the village of Welland – and is now trying for 30 more.
“Inspector Knacker is studying developments with interest.”
