Deputy Jackie Hilton, who chairs the Planning applications sub-committee, said that she and her fellow members had no idea that they were dealing with a landfill site and if they had known they would not have allowed it.They gave in-principle approval last September but attached conditions because of the concerns of Planning officers and did not issue a permit at that stage.Deputy Hilton told the House during yesterday’s censure motion debate that Senator Frank Walker’s intervention on behalf of his friend, applicant Charles Gallichan, had led to the ‘premature’ issuing of the permit for the scheme last December.
She described his actions as ‘unwise and inappropriate’ and believed they had ‘compromised’ the system.That permit was issued despite the fact that the concerns of the Environmental Services Unit had still not been met.
Our safety net had been irretrievably breached,’ she said.The permit – which still contained conditions which have yet to be met – had been issued without the sub-committee’s knowledge because the director of Planning had done it under delegated powers, as requested by Senator Walker.Deputy Hilton’s sub-committee comprised Deputies Terry Le Main and Mike Taylor and the latter also said that while Senator Walker’s intervention came after in-principle approval had already been given, it had ‘sped up’ the issuing of the permit to Mr Gallichan.
