“We believe that things are on our side” LDP challengers optimistic as fundraiser enters final day

A fundraiser that could see Wrexham’s Local Development Plan adoption come under another legal spotlight could see a ‘more than 50-50 chance’ of a successful challenge say organisers.

The development blueprint, which sets out where thousands of homes could be built in the county borough over the next few years, has proved long term controversial with two previous votes going against adoption.

The plan was formally adopted following extraordinary scenes in the Guildhall with a boycott of the vote by some councillors, after firm legal advice that contained a blunt warning of jail, and a Judge quashing the previous no vote.

A second failed judicial review was also attempted by three mystery senior councillors and subsequently pulled – although the identities were accidentally revealed via our FOI.

Earlier this week a Crowdfunder aiming to raise £6,500 to obtain legal advice over council’s decision to adopt the plan.

The fundraiser, which at the time of writing stands at £2,415, states:

Wrexham councillors’ steadfast refusal to adopt its Local Development Plan as being unsound for our community was challenged by a consortium of large housing developers in the High Court in November 2023. Wrexham Council failed to defend the action and, unopposed, the court order quashed two previous votes and ordered a further vote which took place in December 2023.

Democratically elected Councillors were all warned that if the did not reject the plan at the third time of asking, they risked jail and asset confiscation for contempt of court.

We believe this case will have implications for councillors across the whole of Wales and the UK, as well as residents everywhere who are affected by local plans and applications.

The democratic process has been undermined by a powerful alliance of Welsh Government, large housing developers and others.

The LDP, as it stands, is not in the best interests of Wrexham and its people.

That’s why we’re seeking to challenge this fundamentally unfair and undemocratic situation via a court review of the council’s decision to adopt the plan by bringing proceedings through the planning court. Time is very tight and we need to raise £6,500 to obtain a legal advice. This is the first step to getting justice for our communities.

Your support, large or small, is much appreciated. Diolch!

We spoke with one councillor who did not want to be named linked to the fundraiser, and asked why it was being done effectively anonymously.

They said: “People have genuine concerns for their own well being and no individual is putting their name to this because of that.

“Given how vindictively certain authorities have come after people, there are people being threatened with costs already, and no doubt there will be others seeking to pin extra costs on individuals.

“This is a community campaign, which has been backed by councillors who, let’s not forget that there was two votes where the majority of councillors voted against adopting the LDP and there was one vote where under duress a minority of councillors decided to vote for it, but the majority refused to take part”.

The fundraiser gives an overview of what the money is due to be used for, and we asked for more detail on what the plan was.

The individual explained: “Initially, it’s to work out whether there is a case to take forward. We are fairly confident on what we’ve heard so far, that there are grounds to take it forward.

“We would have more than a 50-50 chance of winning it, as much as you can be sure of anything in the court.

“We believe that things are on our side, and the barrister we’ve been dealing with seems to back that up.

“But, there’s a long way to go. We’re only at the first stage of this process. We are relying on donations from the general public and anybody who’s concerned about the democratic process, and the way the planning process has has operated in Wrexham, and how those democratic voices have been silenced in various ways.

“The bottom line is are we allowed to speak up for what we believe in? I think we’ve reached a very dangerous position where people are being told to shut up and get on with it.”

We pointed to recent comments in the public Executive Board meeting where Welsh Labour Group Leader Dana Davies said such fundraising left her ‘really concerned that that puts us in a contempt of court position’ – and wanted reassurance that the ‘lawful decisions’ made on the LDP were ‘upheld’.

We asked if those behind the fundraiser were confident they would not be in contempt as was raised on Tuesday.

The reply was blunt: “The legal process involves an appeals process.

“So if she says that things are not allowed to proceed to appeal she doesn’t understand the legal process. That’s a problem for her.

“The bottom line is, there is a right to appeal. We have the right to exercise that appeal to the end of the legal process. Simple as that. There’s no contempt of court if you are following the legal process.

“The total raised publicly showed £2415 at the time of writing, however there was rumours that further cash had been raised that was not public. We asked if that was the case, and if they were confident of raising the full sum required.

“This is a very dynamic situation, things are changing all the time. There have been quite substantial donations directly to the legal team which are not included in the crowd funder.

“Obviously, one issue with the crowd fund is that it does take a certain percentage away. So it does help in a sense to donate directly to the legal team.

“I’m hopeful that we will get to a position where we can go to the next stage of this process.”

Although the public crowdfunder has a long time to run Wrexham.com understood that LDP related legal activities were working on a shorter timeline.

It appears the timing is even tighter than thought: “We have got to raise the money that we’ve aimed for by end of play Friday (today) effectively.

“There is a timeline there in terms of submitting paperwork and you can’t just do that overnight. So, there is a very tight timeline.

“We would urge people who support the challenge within the legal process to come forward and donate now”.

The debate has also been ongoing on Twitter/X as well between two councillors:

Separately multiple councillors have also contacted us to share a warning they were all given about sharing the Crowd Justice website link using council resources, with members being told they are not to use council email addresses to try drum up support for such fundraising.

Councillors were also reminded of the general rules around such things, that council email (and other resources – for example telephony) should not be used ‘improperly’ for political or private purposes.

(Top pic: The fundraiser last night at the time of writing)