LDP re-run ‘still a democratic decision’ with councillors able to vote for and against – again

Councillors have been assured they can vote any way they wish in the forthcoming re-run of the Local Development Plan meeting.

As we have documented, an extraordinary council meeting has been called for next Wednesday where all 56 councillors could be asked to vote again on the LDP, something a majority refused to adopt several weeks ago.

Wrexham.com queried the Council Chief Executive Ian Bancroft about the forthcoming meeting, who said it was ‘still a democratic decision’ in the hands of councillors, adding “We have had a judicial review case opened against us after the council decision”.

“King’s Counsel opinion says we won’t win that and should advise on this basis. The legal opinion is we have made an unlawful decision, that it will be overturned and if we contest it, it will incur significant costs. It’s still a democratic decision but we need to provide that additional information to council.”

We queried what a repeat non-adoption vote would mean, and if the matter would keep returning the chamber, he explained, “So the process then, it will go through that judicial review process. The Counsel opinion we’ve had is we don’t have a chance of winning that. That will, if that follows through, if we don’t win, will incur costs, and then obviously, a judge will make a decision in terms of what should happen as a result of that.”

We asked why some councillors had expressed unhappiness about not being provided with information requested, and if they would now get what they are asking for. Mr Bancroft said, “They will get a report that will go out with the council agenda. We have to be careful here because some papers are not in the public domain, or court papers. But, we will provide all the extracts that are required within the report for councillors to be able to make a proper decision.”

We asked who the complainant was, and if it was Welsh Government. Mr Bancroft said “It’s private sector that has come to us and made that Judicial Review, it’s not Welsh Government.”

On Monday we detailed Council Leader Mark Pritchard’s firm comments on the re-run of the LDP decision, something he doubled down on, stating, “The most important thing is democracy, it overrides everything, that’s what keeps us safe and that’s what keeps us different from other countries across the world”

“Money should not come into it. The democratic process has taken place in that chamber. The sovereignty of that chamber stops within Wrexham, not with the Welsh Government, certainly not with (First Minister) Mark Drakeford making a comment about it.

“The reason being given why this meeting is being called is because of costs. Is that a legitimate reason to call another meeting? I don’t believe it is because we’ve had our decision and we should now let it go through the law and let a decision be made.

“It is an attack on democracy in my opinion. We’ve had a vote, a decision was made and we should all respect it but it’s not happening, it’s coming back to the chamber.”

Again with an existential point he added, “Everything is on the table here. What are we here for?”

He added: “We were elected through the democratic process to represent our constituents and now we’re being told it’s got to come back to the chamber.

“What happens if that LDP falls again? Do they bring it back again?

“I respect the law but we are not breaking the law. We have been told we can vote whichever way we want to, so we’re doing nothing wrong.

“Let a judge make a decision. It’s over and above our head now and that’s the way it should be. I am staggered, I’ve never known anything like it.

“I’ve expressed my concerns to the chief executive, I’ve expressed them to the monitoring officer. It’s just undemocratic and it’s wrong what’s going on. I’m not prepared to accept it and I’ll fight it tooth and nail but I will respect the law when a decision is made by the judge, absolutely.

“There is a difference between the democratic process and the law. The elected members can vote whichever way they want to in that chamber, and they can’t be forced to vote in any way.

“The legal officer can put the case forward on the night, absolutely, and then we make a decision.

“Whichever way that decision goes, I will respect it. I respected it last time.

“We’re in unchartered waters here, it’s bigger than Wrexham and that’s why it needs to go to a judge.”

He added: “Otherwise what’s the point of us being there? We may as well just hand the keys over to the officers and let them run the council, then there’d be no democracy here at all.”

We pointed to the First Minister making comparisons of Wrexham to Clochemerle, and asked if there had been any other Welsh Government contact over the LDP rather than the public mockery.

Cllr Pritchard said no correspondence had been received from Welsh Government since the last Full Council meeting in April, and he felt the ridicule was uncalled for.

As Cllr David A Bithell was in the room we asked him about his voting intentions – several weeks ago he voted to support the adoption of the LDP, and lost the vote.

Cllr Bithell said he would be voting the same way again, so we asked him if there was a wider point of principle at stake as outlined by his group leader.

Cllr Bithell added, “At the end of the day Mark has got his view and I have got my view. The reality is the Council have called that council meeting because the decision on the 19th of April was unlawful. Is it an attack on democracy if the decision has already been made? The reality is, in one way probably, you could look at it and say, yeah, there is an attack on democracy. But, at the end of the day, councillors have a legal duty to follow the law.”

We asked the Chief Executive if there was any frustration from officers because councillors were clearly told a vote to not adopt the LDP could trigger several scenarios – including a legal challenge – and councillors made a decision ignoring that advice. We asked if there was any hope for councillors to follow that advice again on a second go at the vote.

Mr Bancroft replied, “Firstly, officers role is to give advice, and to look objectively around what this means constitutionally and the legal requirements.

“In both instances it is a democratic decision, so we have to respect that as officers.

“The judgment officers make with counsel opinion in this situation, is whether we’re likely to win that legal process. The advice is very strong that we are not going to win that process.

“So we have to provide that strong advice back to council. We have to say that if we are going to go down that road, then it’s likely we’re going to lose that judicial review, and we will incur costs.

“Therefore, our strong advice is that you accept the local development plan. However, it’s your democratic decision to make with that professional advice given.

“I think we have to get that balance right and that’s what we’re trying to work hard to achieve.”

We asked the Council Leader about the counsel advice provided and the strong guidance from officers, and if he was overriding such information.

Cllr Pritchard said, “I am not overriding anything. We have had counsel’s advice, and that’s fine. But, we are not breaking the law in that chamber.

At the moment it looks likely that the vote will be a repeat of the previous meeting, however with possibly two extra councillors present who have voiced strong concerns over the LDP previously, so look likely to increase the majority against adoption of the plan.

The special “Extraordinary Meeting” has been called for the 14th of June at 4pm and will be broadcast live.