Council’s conflict of interest
Apart from the issue of suitability, or need, for such a hotel on that site and bearing in mind the status of Common Land of the racecourse, there remains the big question of the conflict of interest of Warwick District Council in the matter. It is both planning authority and also landlord of the planning applicant’s business. Already there have been some eyebrows raised over the modest rent paid by the applicant’s company to the council, especially in view of the current national monetary crisis affecting local authorities’ budgets.
In the current climate of legitimate public scepticism about the transparency of our public authorities, it surely behoves Warwick District Council to place its responsibility to the town beyond the possibility of reproach either in the short-term, or later (say in circumstances when the applicant wished to sell the hotel on at considerable profit)? - Ruth I Johns, Castle Close, Warwick.