Housing developer to appeal application to build 45 homes in Northamptonshire which was rejected by councillors during troubled meeting

A developer refused planning permission by a panel including a councillor banned after he was found to have deliberately used his position to stop the application will appeal next month.

East Haddon-based Cora Homes, under its previous trading name of Barwood Homes, applied to build 45 homes in Flore but its application was rejected by West Northamptonshire councillors last November.

Councillor Phil Bignell, whose Long Buckby ward includes Flore, sat on the Daventry planning committee despite not being a full member or a substitute.

A cross-party panel banned him from two planning committees – but not the Daventry committee – for three months after finding he had predetermined the application before he voted against it.

Last year West Northamptonshire Council planning officers advised councillors to approve the planning application.

Planning experts from the Local Government Association (LGA) who attended the meeting said Cllr Bignell showed officers “a complete lack of respect”.

Cllr Bignell had said that while he was “persistent”, he was not aggressive.

There were 10 councillors sat on the committee that evening, although the chairman of the committee, Cllr Kevin Parker, abstained from voting.

Five councillors, including Cllr Bignell, voted against the application and four voted in favour.

A total of 17 people had objected to the plan going ahead. The council received nothing in support of it.

The Planning Inspectorate confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that an appeal is due to start on 11 July.

Its website notes Cora Homes filed the case in March.

A spokesperson for Cora Homes said: “We are in the process of appealing the decision.”

West Northamptonshire Council’s planning portal does not have any record of a planning appeal being made.

Cllr Rebecca Breese, the council’s cabinet member for planning, told colleagues on Tuesday that the service has improved “remarkably” since the LGA peer review late last year.

At the time, it found the service’s performance was “not strong”, was deteriorating and that a backlog of undetermined applications was rising but a restructure has since taken place.