ALLEGATIONS that senior council staff accepted bribes and colluded with a developer who planned to build up to 2,000 new homes have been exposed.

A former senior planning boss at Northumberland County Council has been accused of accepting undisclosed hotel stays, meals and first class travel from developer Lugano, which had planned to build Dissington Garden Village, near Ponteland.

The allegations, dating back around three years, were discussed at Wednesday’s meeting of the council’s audit committee, in a report presented by the authority’s chief executive Daljit Lally.

Presenting the report, Ms Lally said several people in positions of authority and control within the council at the time had made efforts to collude with and secure a number of inappropriate advantages for the developer.

An investigation revealed an offer was made to provide a £34m loan from the council to fund the development. Meanwhile, it was claimed a former planning boss had instructed staff to communicate via their personal non-secure email accounts in relation to the application, to avoid scrutiny from audits or Freedom of Information requests.

And it was alleged that the applicant was allowed to write and alter parts of the planning officers’ report to the Strategic Planning Committee, which in March 2017 was handed a ‘minded-to-approve resolution’ by the council. After a new administration was elected that year, prompting the development of a new local plan, the application had to be reassessed.

In January 2019, the Dissington application was withdrawn just days before going in front of the council’s strategic planning committee again, where it was recommended for refusal.

Lugano had made serious allegations against the council in 2018 with writs issued in the High Court, but the legal action has now been withdrawn.

Coun. Nick Oliver read emails during the meeting to highlight how closely Lugano had been working with some of the council’s planning department.

He added: “This goes way beyond what is normal and I would suggest possibly what is legal.”

Coun. Gordon Castle, after reading aloud a definition of bribery, said: “Is that not exactly what we are looking at here?”

Coun. Ian Swithenbank added: “To read a report like this; disappointment is hardly the word.”

A new director of planning has since been appointed and those involved are no longer employed by the council. The report said the concerns had been passed to the relevant professional body to investigate the matter.