COUNCIL leaders have been accused of creating “a severe perceived conflict of interest” over the sale of a ransom-strip which opens up farmland for a development of 450 homes.

The site, on fields off Worrygoose Lane at Whiston, is effectively landlocked.

But Rotherham Council owns a strip of land between the carriageway and the site which allows access.

Council officials have negotiated with developers Miller Homes to sell the land – bringing £4.5m into the public purse.

Expensive option: Andrew Claxton from Whiston Residents Action Group at the £4.5m ransom strip

placeholder image — Expensive option: Andrew Claxton from Whiston Residents Action Group at the £4.5m ransom strip

Senior councillors have now confirmed that deal – with an assurance from council leader Chris Read that talks will be held with the community about how the windfall will be spent.

However, Whiston Residents Action Group have raised questions over the entire planning application – including the land sale as part of the planning application process and have also called for the council’s monitoring officer to investigate – though the land sale is separate to planning decisions.

They suggest the deal is a “perceived conflict”, citing: “Because RMBC stands to gain significant financial profit from the land sale – a transaction unlocked only if planning permissions are maintained and conditions discharged – there is a severe perceived conflict of interest.

“The department regulating this development is structurally tied to a corporate transaction profiting from these exact approvals.”

WRAG also raise what they regard as a conflict with the Local Plan – the council blueprint for future development which identified the Worrygoose Lane site for housing.

They say the situation “undermines baseline logic” of the policy over Green Belt land, because the proposal relies on the sale of council land to go ahead.

Although the planning authority comes under Rotherham Council, it is legally a separate body, so has no interest in the land sale.

But WRAG raise the Nolan Principles – the standards to which those in public office must adhere.

They claim the large sum involved “creates an acute risk of pre-determination”, which “directly challenges the principles of integrity and objectivity set out in the seven principles of public life,” stating: “The regulatory department (planning) cannot be seen to fast-track condition discharges to facilitate a corporate asset windfall.”

Their submission, in response to a planning application for the site, also question “apparent contradictions” over drainage for the site and a failure to match up national planning policy.