Councillors hit back in schoolroom row
COUNCILLORS have hit back at a damning ombudsman's report which criticised their decision to approve the demolition of a Victorian Sunday school room.
Two councillors who sat on the Heavy Woollen planning sub-committee three years ago denied they were shown pictures of the wrong building in Gomersal.
Protestors who want to save the building – which is in a conservation area – called in the ombudsman Anne Seex, who has now ruled in their favour.
The church had wanted to sell the building, which would be pulled down to make way for houses, to pay for the refurbishment of the nearby listed 'Pork Pie' Methodist chapel.
However, the report said Kirklees planning officers did not follow proper procedures and showed councillors the wrong photographs before they made a decision.
Coun Adrian Murphy, who chaired the committee in 2006/07, is adamant they were correctly informed about the 'dilapidated' state of the building – with all 11 councillors taking part in a site visit on the day of the decision.
"We saw ceilings falling away," he said.
"The ombudsman was shown different pictures for her report by officers from the council, that's all I can assume."
The protestors say photographs presented to the committee showed a disabled access lift – despite the schoolroom being a one-storey building.
Gomersal Tory councillor Derrick Yates, who also sits on the planning committee, said the disabled lift might have been confused with plans to refurbish the chapel.
He said: "On the site visit we saw that the room was in an advanced state of disrepair.
"I have no memory of seeing photographs of a disabled lift or anything else in the pictures.
"I believe planning officers got it right and I have no criticism of them on this issue."
Jane Newland, one of the protesters, said before the meeting, all committee members received information about the contentious points and that several people pointed out inaccuracies to them at the time.
"I said quite clearly to the whole meeting that the photographs shown could not possibly be of the Gomersal schoolroom and referred them to our picture given to the chairman – but he did not pass it round the table and nobody believed us at that time," she said.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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