Batley and Mirfield councillors asked to leave Kirklees Council's budget meeting following a heated argument over giant Amazon warehouse plans near Cleckheaton

Though the Labour group’s budget was passed, the meeting was overshadowed as the history of the controversial development plans in Cleckheaton was rehashed.

Coun Martyn Bolt (Con, Mirfield) reminded the council of the “deal” made between Council Leader, Coun Shabir Pandor, and consultants working on behalf of Amazon in 2021.

This saw the leader, along with then-Deputy Leader, Coun Peter McBride, request that plans for the development scheme were not made public until after the 2021 elections.

After a heated argument, Coun Pandor and Coun Bolt were asked to leave the council chamber as the meeting was temporarily adjourned. They were accompanied by the Mayor of Kirklees, Masood Ahmed, and chief executive Jacqui Gedman, among others.

Coun Bolt told the meeting: “One of the Labour spokesmen mentioned that workers are moving from being key workers to working in warehouses.

"That seems to be a certain amount of hypocrisy because it’s this leader and cabinet that are working to build one of the biggest warehouses that we’ve ever seen and I believe that a planning report has just been issued saying this council supports it.

“That development, we must remember, will see the desecration of countryside, many more HGVs and other vehicles on our roads with no facilities for parking or holding until they’re allowed on site and remember, the Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed that the leader had done some kind of a deal with the developer to hold back information until after previous elections.”

Coun Pandor called a point of order and proceeded to say Coun Bolt was “lying”.

He added: “What evidence has he got, Mr Mayor? He has done this on numerous times, I have nothing to do with the planning committee, I have had no dealings with the report that has been prepared and he continues to mislead the council and I want an apology.”

Coun Ahmed reminded Coun Bolt that Coun Pandor had accused him of lying.

Coun Bolt replied: “That in itself is a lie because I was quoting from the Freedom of Information which said ‘please tell the leader and deputy that we agree to their requests not to go public until after the election’.

"That’s what the FOI said. Were you not the leader of the council?”

Correspondence uncovered by the FOI request has been seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service and states that the leader of the council and deputy did request that consultation be delayed until after the election period in 2021.

Coun Pandor was among those standing for re-election at this time.

An excerpt from an email dated April 20, 2021, addressed to the council’s strategic director for growth, David Shepherd, and planning officer, Kate Mansell, discussed consultation and plans to open the warehouse in summer 2023.

It continued: “We also agreed with the leader’s and the deputy leader’s request that we hold back any announcements until after the elections, so clearly an approach to the ward members for a briefing before May 6 would be inappropriate.”

Pre-application consultation commenced on May 8 – two days after the local elections.

On May 9, an email was sent by Mr Shepherd which read: “Worth noting the Rockingham South ward in Barnsley was won by a coin toss at last week’s elections, having been a safe seat previously.

“The issue was the new Hermes facility, which divided local opinion.

"I’m pleased you chose to delay your public engagement in the circumstances. I feel that will allow for a better consultation process.”

After numerous delays, the planning application for the Amazon warehouse will be discussed by the council’s strategic planning committee on Wednesday (March 15).