Banned politician is under investigation (From Bucks Free Press)

Banned politician is under investigation

1:34pm Thursday 10th July 2008 in

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The man responsible for disposing of Surrey County Council's (SCC) unwanted properties is under investigation after it was discovered he had been banned from holding political office for a year.

Tony Dunn, head of asset management for SCC and former Tory councillor for Wycombe District Council, was banned for a year four weeks ago by the Standards Board for England after he was found to have "totally and, arguably, wilfuly ignored" planning rules.

He wrote to fellow councillors at Wycombe District Council on council notepaper in October 2007, to try and persuade them to grant planning permission for a local property developer.

He neglected to mention that he worked for the developer as company secretary and that his brother was a consultant for the scheme.

Issuing his verdict, Sir Anthony Holland, chairman of the Standards Board, said: "By attempting to influence planning applications to the advantage of his associates, Mr Dunn failed to act with the honesty and integrity that the general public had every right to expect from their local representatives.

"This was a serious breach of the trust the electorate had placed in him."

An SCC spokesman said: "This information would not have come to light in a job reference as it is related to his role as an elected representative in Marlow, not as an employee.

"In the light of this judgement we are looking into this matter to see if there are implications we need to take into account as his employer."

Mr Dunn told the Marlow Free Press he intervened as he believed an order to stop an earlier development was unsound and thought this would be found at a public inquiry, damaging the council, but the Elmbridge Guardian was unable to contact Mr Dunn for further comment.