Labour councillors at a Hertfordshire local authority were allegedly instructed on how to vote on at least one planning application, according to audio leaked to the Daily Mail.
Official Government guidance states that councillors considering planning matters must be able to make their decisions freely, without being subject to a party whip.
However, remarks said to have been made by a Labour councillor in a recording obtained by this newspaper suggest that votes on a proposed development on green belt land near a reservoir may have been shaped before the application came before a hearing.
The claims come at a sensitive time for Hertsmere Council, which is run by Labour in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Last month, the council was placed into special planning measures, with the Government’s Planning Inspectorate removing its authority to decide on “major” developments.
In the audio, Aaditya Kaza, the Labour councillor for Borehamwood Hillside ward, appeared to agree when another person asked whether the party’s councillors had been told “what you’ve got to do” regarding an application for development near Aldenham Reservoir.
It is not clear which specific application was being discussed. However, about six months before the recording was made in January 2024, land beside the reservoir had been the subject of a proposal seeking permission for a warehouse and office development.
The landowners said that application formed part of a wider plan to raise money for essential repairs to the reservoir’s “high-risk” dam, which they described as being in “poor condition and disrepair”.
At the time, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) opposed the proposal, describing the site as “open land” containing a range of vegetation and wildlife.
Labour members of Hertsmere Council were allegedly directed on how to vote for a planning application relating to Aldenham reservoir (pictured)
Though it is not known exactly which planning application was being referred to, an application six months before the recording had sought permission to build a warehouse and office nearby
Hertsmere Labour councillor Aaditya Kaza suggested his party’s members had been given direction on how to vote on a planning application
Every Labour member on Hertsmere’s planning committee voted in favour of the application, which passed by a margin of six votes to four.
In the recording Mr Kaza said ‘just that once’ the leadership had given direction on how to vote.
He said of the application: ‘That was a sensitive situation.’
When it was put to Mr Kaza that ‘you can’t have that,’ he replied: ‘No, I know.’
Asked whether any Labour members of the planning committee protested the direction they were given, Mr Kaza responded: ‘No’.
Hertsmere’s Labour group said it ‘categorically’ rejected the suggestion that planning applications were whipped and added the recording of Mr Kaza ‘shows nothing of the kind’.
‘His remarks refer to a discussion within the Labour Group about the implications of a particular planning application for the future of Aldenham Reservoir,’ a spokesman said.
‘Such discussions are entirely normal and involve all members of the Group, not just those serving on the planning committee.’
The spokesman added: ‘Discussion of planning issues within a political group is not “whipping”, nor does it predetermine the outcome of any application.
‘To present a decontextualised and informal comment as evidence that councillors were directed how to vote is simply false.’
Mr Kaza said his comments had been taken out of context.
The landowners said the development would help fund repairs to the reservoir’s dam
Last month Hertsmere Council was placed into ‘designation’, meaning it has had its ability to decide on large schemes withdrawn by the Government.
Developers can now have their schemes decided upon directly by the Government’s Planning Inspectorate instead of applying to the council.
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Hertsmere’s Labour group said it was ‘disappointing news’ but added the housing minister’s decision was ‘both reasonable and understandable’ because ‘some members’ of the planning committee had ‘failed to determine applications’ by following planning guidelines.
Brett Rosehill, a Reform UK member of the council’s planning committee, said being place into special measures was ‘a badge of failure no council wants to wear’.
He added: ‘Residents expect major planning decisions to be made by locally elected representatives, not by inspectors hundreds of miles away.’
In the two years from 2023 to 2025, Hertsmere had six major planning decisions overturned on appeal to the Planning Inspectorate out of a total 40.
One such decision was an application for 195 homes on previously green belt land in Radlett.
The application to build in the Hertfordshire town was rejected three times by the council before being overturned by a Government planning inspector.
Key to the decision was Labour’s ‘grey belt’ policy, which opened ‘low quality’ green belt land to development.
A 2024 Labour campaign video said much of the green belt was actually ‘poor quality land’
It said significant parts of the green belt included car parks and ‘waste lands’ which could be used for housing but has led to lush fields being opened up to development
But this Hertfordshire field was earmarked to host 195 homes by a Government planning inspector earlier this year because it was judged to be grey belt land
But pictures of the proposed development site in Radlett showed a green field with sheep grazing.
Hertsmere Council said it remained dedicated to delivering a strongly performing and effective planning service.
Its head of planning, Liz Beighton, resigned last month – the job has now been advertised as an initial six-month contract worth £600 a day, equivalent to an annual salary of £156,000.
Ms Beighton wrote in an article for Property Reporter before she held the Hertsmere role that Boris Johnson’s Conservative government had pushed a planning strategy that was ‘little more than a surrender to Nimbys’.
Nimby is an acronym for ‘not in my back yard’, a pejorative term often used against those who oppose developments in their area.
The council’s administration faced yet more planning controversy last month after WhatsApp messages from a Labour councillor showed him telling party colleagues to ‘start planning sites where we can’t win seats’.
A by-election last Thursday pushed the Labour-Lib Dem coalition into the minority on the council after Conservative Linda Silver took the seat held by the late Liberal Democrat Shailain Shah.
It came a month after a town councillor in Hertsmere resigned from the Labour party because of ‘profound reservations’ over planning strategy and the group’s ‘subservience’ to the party machine at constituency level.
Dan Ozarow said he had serious concerns over the council’s draft local plan, the document which outlines planning strategy for the coming years.
Proposed by the Labour-Lib Dem coalition, the draft local plan could see up to 16,000 homes built across the borough if all candidate sites were used.
Hundreds could be built on green belt land.
Former deputy prime minister and Hertsmere’s MP Sir Oliver Dowden told the Mail the impact of the local plan on the green belt ‘could be disastrous’.
He added the plan was ‘driven by the Labour government’s “grey belt” redesignation and top-down targets’.
‘I will support residents in their ongoing fights to defend our green belt. Once open countryside is lost it is gone forever,’ Sir Oliver said.
Hertsmere Labour said the local plan was ‘built on professional advice, technical evidence and public consultation’.
A spokesman added: ‘Reasonable people will disagree about the right balance between the homes our communities urgently need and the green belt we are determined to protect.’
