Council launches probe into alleged senior officer “meddling” in Milton Keynes warehouse investigation

A report into how a warehouse in Blakelands was granted planning permission to double in height to 18 metres with 14 conditions left out of official documents is still in the process of being completed one year after being originally commissioned.

The report is now expected by residents sometime this month.

It is understood that the allegations of “interference and meddling” come from someone with intimate knowledge of the planning department at the council.

Resident Davina Scholefield raised the issue at the September 3 meeting of the council’s development control committee.

At that meeting she said: “We also have been given cause to believe from information given to us last week from someone who appears to know the workings of the MK planning department, that there has been senior officer interference and meddling in the review process.”

She said it has “undermined the independence of the work Marc Dorfman has been undertaking.”

Later Marc Dorfman, who is finalising his long awaited report, wrote to residents to defend his independence.

Now a spokesman for Milton Keynes Council has confirmed: “The chief executive (Michael Bracey) has asked the internal auditor to look into the allegations.”

The new probe adds to the woes of the council’s planning department, which is facing calls for a Government investigation, and a complaint that was made to police.