Council calls in law firm after complaint about planning committee meeting

Law firm Dentons has been chosen by the London Borough of Southwark to investigate a complaint made against a councillor who chaired a controversial planning committee meeting last summer.

Objectors to a scheme that would see a new stadium built for Dulwich Hamlet Football Club and 223 homes on an adjacent site have questioned the way Martin Seaton chaired the meeting in July.

This granted permission for the scheme despite concerns raised by then council leader Peter John, who is a ward councillor for the area concerned.

A Southwark spokesperson confirmed: “A complaint is being investigated according to council procedures.”

An objection sent last year by the Campaign to Protect Rural England said the scheme would be built partly on protected metropolitan open land and there were “no special circumstances which can justify [this]”.

An officer’s report for the meeting recommended the committee grant planning permission, subject to conditions, an appropriate legal agreement and referral to the Mayor of London.

Mark Smulian