Director General slams own department in planning complaint

Friday 25 June 2021

The Director General of Infrastructure, Housing and Environment has slammed the Planning Department – which he oversees – for its “intermittent and non-existent” action on alleged breaches in St. Peter in a letter sent as a private citizen.

Writing on 21 June as a member of the public, Mr Scate blasted the department for seeming to encourage retrospective planning applications rather than addressing residents' concerns about the number of mobile units he says overreach their permitted boundaries at a recycling depot near his home.

Mr Scate was appointed Chief Executive of Environment in 2008, spending 10 years in the role, before his roles as Group Director for Regulation within Growth, Housing and Environment (GHE), and then Acting Director of the same department.

After the GHE was renamed Infrastructure, Housing and Environment (IHE), Mr Scate was this month appointed its Director General, the role he currently holds. IHE includes the Planning Department.

Since 2017, there has been a process in place to manage potential conflicts of interest.

Expressing frustration that WPRecycling's plans within the retrospective applications “do not reflect the existing situation on the ground”, Mr Scate said that the issues he flagged had “been repeatedly highlighted to the planning department by residents over many years.”

Pictured: Mr Scate has been working within Government since 2008, including a 10-year stint as Chief Executive of Environment.

“Action has been intermittent and non existent. Before the applications can be determined, a full and accurate existing site plan should be provided for each application," he said.

“These applications should not have been registered as they contain incorrect and incomplete information as to the current operations of this site.” 

He added: “The planning department should be enforcing these breaches rather than encouraging retrospective planning applications.

“There have been various recent letters to the planning department from local residents highlighting areas of expansion, breaches and impacts on the local neighbourhood.  

“These have not been acted upon, and therefore we object strongly to these retrospective planning applications and the message that this sends.”

Pictured: The contested recycling depot is based at Mont Fallu.

KEPlanning’s supporting document on behalf of WPRecycling, argues that the application is in line with their planning history, going back to documents approved in 2010.

Constable Richard Buchanan, who is Vice Chair of the States Employment Board, the official employer of all Government workers, did not respond to the criticism of the Planning Department when contacted for comment by Express.

He did, however, explain that there had been a 'conflict of interest' procedure in place for managing decisions that may affect to Mr Scate's property since 2017.

“I am aware that the Director General of Infrastructure, Housing and Environment has made a submission in relation to a retrospective planning application as a private citizen," Constable Buchanan explained.

Pictured: SEB Vice Chair Constable Richard Buchanan described a "robust process" to avoid conflicts of interest related to planning applications in the proximity of Mr Scate's home. The Government has not, however, responded to the criticism of the Planning Department itself.

“We have in place a robust process to ensure where conflicts of interest arise as in this case, these are declared and the individual concerned plays no part in the decision making process. 

“The Director General made his comments via the online planning portal which is available for all members of the public to give feedback on applications. In line with all senior officers, he made declarations in relation to his property and potential conflicts of interests and provisions were put in place as early as 2017 in relation to removing him from any decisions in the proximity of his property.

“The planning process is a robust and transparent system and comments are available for public view. The result of the planning application will now be referred to Officers and if necessary will go to the independent Planning Committee to make any decisions.”

When Express followed up on the lack of comment on Mr Scate's planning criticisms, a Government spokesperson responded this morning: "The Planning Department will not comment on any individual submissions made during the planning application process.

"Public comments are welcome until the closing date of an application, after which time the application will be assessed and referred to the decision-makers in due course."