A rebel councillor has defended his decision to break an Isle of Wight Council convention after he was slammed by a colleague.
Councillor Chris Jarman said there was no point ‘acting like dinosaurs chained to the past when changes can be made for the good’, after he debated and voted on a planning application in his ward on Tuesday.
Representing Totland and Colwell, Cllr Jarman sat with, and spoke on behalf of, residents fighting the Birch Close development at the planning committee meeting before moving across the council chamber to join fellow committee members.
The decision to do so broke the Isle of Wight Council’s convention but he was legally allowed to do so.
Councillor Geoff Brodie, chair of the Isle of Wight Council, said Cllr Jarman’s actions were ‘disrespectful’ to every other member of the council. He said Cllr Jarman may have had an advantage the 27 other members of the council, who are not on the planning committee, would not have as they would only get the chance to make representations to the committee and not vote.
Cllr Brodie said, in all his time on the committee, no councillor had ever broken the convention.
Chair of planning, Councillor Michael Lilley, said he would have preferred it if the convention was stuck to but acknowledged Cllr Jarman’s wishes to take part in the meeting.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Jarman said his decision was discussed for about a month, talking to various parties, and it was a question of what was the right thing to do in terms of representing residents.
He said there were things the new administration were going to improve, but that did not mean they were throwing away all the conventions of the past, which were out of date and inefficient.
He understood some people found change difficult.
Well done to this councillor for setting this precedent.
Local decisions on planning should not solely be decided by non-locals, it is not right.
If it makes it tougher for planning to be approved, so be it. Massive housing estates on greenfield should have to jump through so many hoops nowadays.
Well done Chris, get these people into the real world, you have lots of support
Why is Brodie always on the side of build, build and build again. Or is this my imagination?
Cllr Jarman should be applauded for listening to his ward residents and supporting them. Unlike Brodie, who at the same meeting had obviously made his mind up to approve the application before any debate took place.
But, of course, Brodie presides over an urban sprawl and won’t be happy until the rest of the island is the same.
brodie is not fit for purpose anymore and needs to go
IF this brave guy were to have spoken out over such large builds as Penny Feather etc, I would not be surprised if he were threatened or met with an accident.
Life changing sums of money for some involved will mean that any ‘no’ will not be accepted by them.
Watch your back my friend