Council planning row panel meets
10 January 2006 - Western Mail
A £120,000-a-year council boss held talks for four hours with senior councillors yesterday over a controversial planning application involving his luxury home.
The three councillor-strong general purposes panel, which has the power to suspend Swansea City and County Council's chief executive Tim Thorogood, is examining complaints about a garage the 46-year-old and his wife Alison first applied for in 2004.
The meeting was adjourned until Friday.
After complaints from the Gower Society, Rhossili Community Council and local residents, Mr Thorogood, in charge of 11,000 council staff in Swansea, was asked by senior colleagues to leave his office on December 20.
It was a routine request under the circumstances because Mr Thorogood could not remain in charge of the authority investigating his own planning application.
The authority has issued a statement saying "there is an issue" surrounding the application made by Mr Thorogood and his wife, a magistrate who works as a corporate complaints officer for neighbouring Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.
Council records indicate the Thorogoods applied for planning permission to build a detached garage and workshop at their Rhossili Bay home, Broad Park, in September 2004.
The council made it clear Mr Thorogood has not been suspended but is subject to a "formal process" in respect of the planning matter.
A £120,000-a-year council boss held talks for four hours with senior councillors yesterday over a controversial planning application involving his luxury home.
The three councillor-strong general purposes panel, which has the power to suspend Swansea City and County Council's chief executive Tim Thorogood, is examining complaints about a garage the 46-year-old and his wife Alison first applied for in 2004.
The meeting was adjourned until Friday.
After complaints from the Gower Society, Rhossili Community Council and local residents, Mr Thorogood, in charge of 11,000 council staff in Swansea, was asked by senior colleagues to leave his office on December 20.
It was a routine request under the circumstances because Mr Thorogood could not remain in charge of the authority investigating his own planning application.
The authority has issued a statement saying "there is an issue" surrounding the application made by Mr Thorogood and his wife, a magistrate who works as a corporate complaints officer for neighbouring Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.
Council records indicate the Thorogoods applied for planning permission to build a detached garage and workshop at their Rhossili Bay home, Broad Park, in September 2004.
The council made it clear Mr Thorogood has not been suspended but is subject to a "formal process" in respect of the planning matter.
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