Forum Topic

17 Questions Cllr Bell needs to provide answers too.

1.             Why did the Leader feel the need to attend personally this initial pre-application and not any others? What was so special about this application?2.             Will the Leader outline fully the “correct procedure” that he described at Full Council on the 16th July which he was following?3.             Did the Leaders office in fact handle the initial enquiry from Dr Sahota? Or was it The Leader himself?4.             Who at the Council side set up the appointment? Was it with Dr Sahota personally or his office?5.             If the request for a pre-application meeting was made verbally, when and where was it made?6.             If the request was made in writing, was it by letter or email?  If the request was by email, was it sent from Dr Sahota’s personal or private email address?7.             Who decided which Officers should attend? Were the Officers under instructions to attend?8.             How long did the meeting last?9.             Why were no notes of the meeting taken? Who decided on that course of action?10.    What “advice” did Dr Sahota actually receive about his application?11.    Did the Leader involve himself in any way with any planning officer before the report into the application was compiled and released?12.       Why did the planning officer who wrote the report suddenly resign from the department just before the report was presented to planning committee?13.       Will this planning officer be interviewed as part of the investigation and if not why not?14.       Did the Leader personally support the candidacy of Dr Sahota for GLA membership in 2012?15.             Did the Leader personally campaign for Dr Sahota at the GLA elections in 2012?16.       Has the Leader of the Council ever enjoyed any hospitality at Dr Sahota’s expense at any time?17.       Did the Leader discuss this application at any stage in any form with the Chair of the Planning Committee?

Benjamin Dennehy ● 4628d9 Comments

As far as I understand it, Cllr Dennehy published his 17 questions on this site and also emailed them to various individuals. After this, curiously, the leader of the Conservative group came up with the same 17 questions and sent them to the Gazette!You will find the 17 questions thread on this forum. It has dropped back now and will be on page 2 or 3. This was posted before David Millican's on-line letter to the Gazette.

Judith Jaafar ● 4615d

It is with great interest that I and many others are following this thread. I am aware that the Control department have granted powers  of approval in the Scheme of"Delegated Powers" The scheme is the Inner Sanctuary of the Planning Officer where he/she can seriously corrupt planning applications and then approve or refuse them at their discretion.Immaterial if the project surpasses the scheme the Planning Officer can still misdirect bypassing up their misrepresented reports  to the planning Committee and push the members of the committee in the planning officers direction. Enough said.The ordinary person not having the funds to pursue unjust matters in the Civil COURTS brought against such Corrupt decisions that are perpetuated has to put up or shut, up with Planning Crime  that is blarringly rampant and uncontrolled within the Local Authorities or atleast some of them .I leave the members of the forum to comment if they agree why there is so much going on that is questionable in our own borough.

Os A Whittle ● 4615d

Missed your spoof response yesterday Bud. Priceless.I was trying to work something that had 'Bell' and 'End' but thought better of it.

Nigel Brooks ● 4617d

For clarity these 17 questions were framed by the leader of the Conservative group, David Millican, and published on 29th July.  Not quite sure why Cllr Dennehy is passing them off as his own work.  Perhaps he can explain?

Phil Taylor ● 4617d

I managed to catch up with Mr Bell (NOT REALLY) and these are (NOT) his answers to the questions posed by BD (DISCLAIMER - NOTHING BELOW IS TRUE!)1. Why did the Leader feel the need to attend personally this initial pre-application and not any others? What was so special about this application? [ANSWER: there was the promise of beers and a curry and a spot of "afters"]2. Will the Leader outline fully the “correct procedure” that he described at Full Council on the 16th July which he was following? [ANSWER: no, next question]3. Did the Leaders office in fact handle the initial enquiry from Dr Sahota? Or was it The Leader himself? [ANSWER: to tell you this Benny Boy would be to shoot myself in the foot]4. Who at the Council side set up the appointment? Was it with Dr Sahota personally or his office? [ANSWER: oh, you’d like to know that Benji!!]5. If the request for a pre-application meeting was made verbally, when and where was it made? [ANSWER: haven’t you got anything better to do, like another hilarious career debilitating blog on Southall – now that WAS good!]6. If the request was made in writing, was it by letter or email? If the request was by email, was it sent from Dr Sahota’s personal or private email address? [ANSWER: seriously, please do another blog – best thing I’ve read since your CV]7. Who decided which Officers should attend? Were the Officers under instructions to attend? [ANSWER: rock, paper, scissors – you’d be amazed how many key decisions are made using this process to save time]8. How long did the meeting last? [ANSWER: does that include the after meeting drinks, visit to restaurant, gentleman’s club ?]9. Why were no notes of the meeting taken? Who decided on that course of action? [ANSWER: you’re not going to believe this, but nobody had a pen or any paper!]10. What “advice” did Dr Sahota actually receive about his application? [ANSWER: in the words of Jerry Maguire, “SHOW ME THE MONEYYYYYYYY!”]11. Did the Leader involve himself in any way with any planning officer before the report into the application was compiled and released? [ANSWER: Benny, even with your conduct record, you should know that sexual relations with planning officers is ‘frowned’ upon]12. Why did the planning officer who wrote the report suddenly resign from the department just before the report was presented to planning committee? [ANSWER: lotto (cough!) win]13. Will this planning officer be interviewed as part of the investigation and if not why not? [ANSWER: if you can find which Caribbean Island he’s now living on, possibly]14. Did the Leader personally support the candidacy of Dr Sahota for GLA membership in 2012? [ANSWER: seriously, you’ve too much time on your hands - how about a photo of me sitting on a bike ? Would that shut you up ?]15. Did the Leader personally campaign for Dr Sahota at the GLA elections in 2012? [ANSWER: I wore a t-shirt, does that count ?]16. Has the Leader of the Council ever enjoyed any hospitality at Dr Sahota’s expense at any time? [ANSWER: HELL YESSSSS! Umm, I mean, no. Absolutely and categorically not. How dare you!]17. Did the Leader discuss this application at any stage in any form with the Chair of the Planning Committee? [ANSWER: come on Benji, you know I can’t answer that - call me and we can go for a beer and a curry. Oh, sorry...]

Bud Richards ● 4618d

I'm intrigued, given the nature of Dr Sohotas businesses and his young age, just how he can afford 8 properties and the tax liabilities that come with them?It would be a push for even the most wealthy to accumulate so many properties in a relatively short time.Hardly the actions of a socialist.

Oliver Gregan ● 4618d

I would refer members of the Forum to the other main topic on what has become known as "the Sahota affair" which also discusses the involvement of the Leader of the Council, Cllr. Julian Bell with the Southall-based GLA Member for Ealing & Hillingdon's planning application.Dr Onkar Singh Sahota's application was made under the name of "Dr Sahota Onkar" for one of his reported 8 properties in the West London area (this impressive number of properties owned by the GLA Member was revealed by Steve Pound MP sometime ago to the former owner of 43 Castlebar Road.  Dr Sahota has referred to his merely wishing to extend his "home"  - but he has never lived at the house, which has been empty for about 1¾ years.Dr Sahota's planning consultants claim that the substantial house is "neglected" and therefore requires the proposed development extending the property in 5 directions to bring it back into use. However when the house was being marketed by Gardiner Residential of Springbridge Road, Ealing for £1,650,000 in 2011, there was a glossy colour sales brochure with many photos also showing the interior of the property and it certainly does not look "neglected" there.There are many unanswered questions in this disturbing case of the behind the scenes "pre-application advice" meeting details of which were not minuted or placed on the planning file contrary to Council procedures. I have written in depth in the associated topic which has received over 120 contributions from members to date.9/8/13.

Victor Mishiku ● 4618d

Well said, indeed. But the latest information from the Borough Solicitor who has engaged Alex Oram is that the report of the investigation will be confidential and produced only for the Council Standards Committee. That is acceptable if the investigation were into a local government officer, but it is into the Leader of the Council who is a politician, and therefore answerable to the electorate. Or have I got something wrong here? Should not an inquiry into the behaviour of an elected official/party be made public? One would think at least that his own party who put him up as Leader should know the findings of an investigation.

Judith Jaafar ● 4627d

It’s not just the leader of the Council who has questions to answer. 1. When did the site meeting between Dr Sahota, Cllr Bell and Noel Rutherford take place?2. Was any person other than Dr Sahota, Cllr Bell and Noel Rutherford present at the meeting?3. Who proposed the meeting at Dr Sahota’s house?4. What other Council officers were informed that the meeting took place, who informed them and when?5. What, if any, communication did Dr Sahota have with Cllr Bell or any council officer (other than planning officers dealing with this case) regarding the planning application after the meeting?6. Did Noel Rutherford make any representation to Cllr Bell regarding the propriety of the pre-planning application site meeting?7. What communications did Noel Rutherford have with planning officers regarding the application in respect of Dr Sahota’s property?8. Will the investigation by Mr Alex Oram include searches of the email accounts of Cllr Bell, Noel Rutherford and officers involved in the planning application to identify any relevant correspondence (back up files should be available should any items have been ‘inadvertently’ deleted from users' accounts)?

Vlod Barchuk ● 4628d