Gerrymandering panel to meet today-Havering Residents Association.

The Havering Resident’s Association write:

The H.R.A complaint about the Council Leader Councillor Damian White’s manipulation of the Local Government Boundary Commission of England process is to be discussed at the Adjudication and Review Committee on today, 1st October at 4.00pm.

In normal circumstances a small selection of Councillors would be appointed to the review panel. However this is a unique situation where Conservative Members could be considered complicit with the Leader as they were present at the meeting where Councillor Damian White was recorded.

The correct procedure is for officers to come up with proposals and for all parties to receive the information at the same time. However according to Councillor Damian White’s own words, he appears to have had prior involvement in the development of the options, the manipulation of the process and ultimately Havering’s submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission of England.

Chair of the H.R.A Councillor Gillian Ford said “We have no evidence that any of the Conservative Councillors have complained or whistle blown on the actions being taken by Councillor Damian White, it is therefore of grave concern to us that we find out that the membership of the Adjudication and Review Committee consists of Conservative Member Timothy Ryan who was recorded speaking in the audio recording and Councillor Matt Sutton who appears to have been present at the meeting, as there is no record of his absence in the minutes.

The H.R.A have submitted three H.R.A letters and two Barrister letters raising concerns over the potential bias which appears not to have been addressed. Councillor Ray Morgan said “we now watch with interest as to how Councillors Ryan and Sutton will respond to the question that will be asked at the meeting on declarations of interest.”