Planning review needed, MLAs told

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The NI Assembly environment committee has heard calls for a review of the involvement of politicians in planning applications.

The discussion surrounded the investigation into Iris Robinson and Castlereagh Council's award of a contract to her teenage lover.

An SDLP MLA said the "informal relationship" between councils and planners should be examined.

John Dallat added that the Robinson affair had "rocked local government".

Mrs Robinson obtained £50,000 from two property developers, Fred Fraser and Ken Campbell, to help Kirk McCambley open a cafe, the Lock Keeper's Inn in south Belfast.

While Mrs Robinson was asking Mr Campbell for the money, she also lobbied on his behalf for one of his building projects in her former parliamentary constituency.

She then sat in on a meeting of Castlereagh Council where the decision was taken to award the lease for the cafe to Mr McCambley. She broke the law by attending the meeting and not declaring her financial interest.

Scrutiny

Mr Dallat added that the public had been unsettled by recent events and the Auditor General needed to scrutinise the system and the influence of public representatives in planning decisions.

Ulster Unionist Roy Beggs said the issue was "why developers felt comfortable handing £25,000 over to a public representative" and that there was "a reason for this" which was not in the public interest.

The DUP's Alastair Ross said an investigation into the £50,000 asked for by Iris Robinson from Fred Fraser and Ken Campbell had already been launched by the Assembly's Standards and Privileges Committee.

Party colleague Peter Weir said the issue was more about individual conduct in the awarding of a contract than planning.

The committee is to write to Environment Minister Edwin Poots, who has responsibility for planning, to ask what its role should be in the investigations into the Robinson affair.