The three Amigos who will be debarred from puplic office first

The case against Leader Jackson, part time CEO Lally and Cabinet member, Riddle (The Defendants) 

The following article is a condensed version of court papers, correspondence to Northumberland County Council (NCC) and its Conservative political leadership over a period of five months. There has been an active conspiracy to cover up unlawful actions. This is why an outside body should mount a FULL, INDEPENDENT INQUIRY preferably a police force. In this article, we have tried to make the information accessible for all but we have faced many hurdles put in place to protect senior officers and the highest politicians in the council namely deliberate withholding of information and downright lies.

We make no apologies for the language in this article. It is meant to be understood.  The claim is lodged by Lugano Developments Estates (LDE) against Cllr Peter Jackson, Cllr John Riddle, and Ms Daljit Lally, an officer and part time CEO. It is alleged that each has caused harm to LDE and unless prevented from doing so threatens to cause further harm to LDE through committing acts amounting to the tort of misfeasance in public office. NCC is vicariously liable for the said torts committed by the defendants. This case means the taxpayer is being held responsible for the actions of Jackson, Lally and Riddle.

 The unlawful acts _________________________________________ In December 2016 LDE submitted a “bespoke” planning application to NCC seeking (a) outline planning permission with all matters reserved for an exemplar Garden Village comprising up to 2,000 dwellings, and space/facilities for employment, commercial, agricultural and leisure uses, and associated infrastructure; and (b) full planning permission for strategic flood alleviation measures and the demolition of a small number of buildings. The planning application was supported by NCC in partnership with LDE with the encouragement of Dept. of Communities and Local Government (DCLG)

The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) of NCC resolved by 7 votes to 2 that it was “minded to approve” the application subject to the conditions as outlined in the Reports. Authority was delegated to the Head of Planning Services, Mr Mark Ketley, to issue full planning permission (in consultation with the Chair of the SPC) once the conditions had been satisfied, subject only to the application being referred to the National Planning Casework Unit for a determination on whether the Secretary of State wishes to call-in the application. Thus, up until the local elections on 4th May 2017, NCC had been wholly supportive of the DGV and was a visible partner.  However, in those elections Cllr Peter Jackson was elected as the Leader of NCC, as head of a minority Conservative Council. Cllr Jackson, whose family farm is near the DGV site, had at all material times expressed vehement opposition to the DGV Scheme. 

Since becoming leader of NCC Cllr Jackson, acting by himself and through others, has orchestrated a series of actions designed to stop the DGV development. Many of those actions have gone well beyond that which is lawful and give rise to the allegations of misfeasance in public office that will be brought against defendants. 

Shortly after becoming leader of NCC, Cllr Jackson sacked NCC’s Chief Executive, Steven Mason. Mr Mason had been a supporter of the DGV development. Ms Lally was appointed as interim Chief Executive at NCC in place of Mr Mason acting from 4th May. Steve Mason was bundled out of NCC with a payment of £417,000 plus benefits on 25th May 2017 on the day that Cllr Jackson officially formed his administration with the help of independent councillors and two Liberal Democrats. On 5th July 2017 NCC took the unusual step of withdrawing its Core Strategy despite the fact that it had already been submitted to the DCLG. This was not part of the Conservative manifesto. That decision to withdraw the Core Strategy was made at a meeting of the Full Council on 5th July 2017 and was engineered by Cllr Jackson who wilfully misled the meeting by stating that the delay that would be caused by withdrawing the Core Strategy and substituting it with an alternative plan would only be ‘2-3 months’. However, the Head of Planning Services, Mr Mark Ketley had clearly advised Cllr Jackson in terms prior to the meeting that the delay would be at least 18 months to 2 years because of the need for a Regulation 18 consultation. Cllr Jackson’s own briefing notes for the meeting (obtained in December 2017 by an FOI request) clearly indicated that he had been advised that the delay would be two years.

 In Dec 2017, a series of anonymous letters were sent to the council alleging bullying and corrupt practices. More about the council conclusions in another briefing in this series.  On 15th August 2017 Cllr Riddle, the portfolio holder for Planning at NCC, emailed Mr Ketley concerning Mr Ketley’s report dated 14th August 2017 about the alternative Core Strategy required following the aforementioned withdrawal decision, instructing Mr Ketley to “remove the need for any garden village” from the report. At a meeting between Cllr Jackson and Mr Ketley on 4th October 2017, Mr Ketley explained to Cllr Jackson that in his opinion and in the opinion of the other professional officers involved, the planning balance had not changed, and the development would continue to be recommended for approval. Cllr Jackson looked Mr Ketley in the eye and said, “You might want to reconsider that!”. After this Cllr Jackson operated through Cllr Riddle and Ms Lally to bring unlawful pressure to bear upon Mr Ketley in an effort to induce him to alter the planning officers’ advice. As time went on Mr Ketley felt increasingly pressurised, bullied, and threatened by the actions and behaviour of the defendants.

 At a meeting on 1st November 2017, Cllr Riddle told Mr Ketley that Mr Jackson had heard that the DGV development may still be recommended for approval when it was presented back to the SPC, and that whilst he was not going to put the instruction in an email, Mr Ketley needed to find a way to recommend refusal. Mr Ketley was left in no doubt from what Cllr Riddle told him, that Cllr Riddle was making that demand at Cllr Jackson’s insistence. It was apparent that Cllr Riddle knew full well that it was entirely improper. Ms Lally became CEO of NCC on 1st November officially.  At a meeting on 2nd November 2017, between Ms Lally and Mr Ketley, Ms Lally pressurised Mr Ketley by saying that preventing the DGV development from happening was a clear priority of the Leader (i.e. Cllr. Jackson) and that, accordingly, Mr. Ketley needed “to do what (he) needed to do”.

On 20th November 2017 Cllr. Riddle came to see Mr Ketley in his office and again said that he “must find a way to recommend refusal of DGV”. On 21st November 2017, Cllr. Riddle again came to see Mr. Ketley and informed him that Cllr. Jackson was “adamant” that DGV must be recommended for refusal. Cllr Riddle mentioned that Cllr. Jackson had told him (i.e. Cllr. Riddle) to “stay strong”. Cllr Riddle made clear to Mr Ketley that his instructions to press Mr Ketley to change his recommendation about DGV came from Cllr Jackson and also from Ms Lally. On 27th November 2017 Mr Ketley received leading counsel’s opinion to the effect inter alia that the impact of the withdrawal of the Core Strategy was insufficient to adversely affect the overall planning balance currently in favour of recommending approval of the DGV development. 

On Friday 1st December 2017 during the course of a conversation between Cllr Jackson and Stephen Rankin, the brother of Allan Rankin who owns the shares in LDE, Cllr Jackson said to Stephen Rankin, “Your brother won’t like what I am about to do next week”. On Monday 4th December 2017 Cllr Riddle visited Mr Ketley’s office and informed him that on the previous Friday (i.e. 1st December 2017) Cllr Jackson and Ms Lally had discussed arrangements to terminate Mr Ketley’s employment. In the event however, on 7th December 2017 Mr Ketley was removed from any further involvement in meetings or discussions concerning the DGV development. Mr Paul Johnston, who some years previously had worked closely with Cllr Jackson at Castle Morpeth Council, was then appointed to a rapidly created position above Mr Ketley. This has cost the taxpayer at least £95,000. Add this to Steven Mason’s payoff of £417,000, the waste of money spent on the original core strategy of £1.2m and the estimated cost of Jackson’s new ‘Local Plan of £500,000 and over £2m has been wasted on Jackson’s ‘folly’.  Early in the New Year Mr Johnston contacted Mr Ketley to advise him that he was going to undertake a restructuring of the planning department that “might affect” Mr Ketley’s position. Mr Johnston went on to propose that Mr Ketley should leave NCC, and Mr Ketley welcomed the opportunity to do so in the New Year on confidential agreed terms since his position had been made impossible at NCC. This has cost the taxpayer a five-figure sum and has contributed towards the lack of transparency and allegations of a ‘cover up’.

In light of the matters stated above, the defendants are guilty of acting in bad faith and flagrantly abusing their powers and authority as public officers.