I WOULD appreciate you allowing me to comment on the report in your paper dated May 25, over the suspension of Manorbier Community Councillor Lynda Parker, for a breach of the Code of Conduct in relation to a retrospective planning application near her residence.

The article states that an unofficial visit to the site had taken place on the morning of the community council meeting that was to decide the merits of the retrospective planning application.

Surely not just Cllr Parker should have been reprimanded by the Local Government Ombudsman over this issue but also any of her fellow councillors who attended the unofficial site visit.

Community councillors as seen by this incident are being too close i.e. reside near applicants / applications, close to the applicants personally or perhaps the reverse not on friendly terms with applicants.

It is obvious that the community councillors who supported Cllr Parker and I presume that means “supported her in her right to take part in the debate” when having a prejudicial interest also need training on the Code of Conduct.

I thought that the Laurence Harding, Monitoring Officer on Pembrokeshire County Council had done the rounds educating community councillors Cllr Terry John informed the Ombudsman that in his opinion Cllr Parker had displayed “contempt” towards the application which seemed to have become a “personal vendetta”.

Many councillors in small villages have close personal relationships with applicants having being raised in the communities that they now serve on as community councillors.

I note that Cllr Parker in her defence stated that “other councillors” had been reported to the ombudsman by Mr Brown but we are not made aware of the outcome of the complaints.

Whilst accepting the right to free speech for those either objecting or supporting planning applications the time has come for community councils to be removed from the consultation process, as they have as shown by this code of conduct decision to have vested interests at a local level, preventing them from making unbiased rational decisions.

Malcolm Calver

Manorbier