EAST Hampshire District Council has been awarded a massive £650,000 in the latest round of government grants for its planning performance, but it is too early for councillors to pat themselves on the back. The council is still waiting to discover how much it can keep after full-scale investigations into the falsification of its planning performance figures are completed. Pat Burridge, EHDC's development control portfolio holder, made the grant announcement at the overview and scrutiny meeting on Wednesday of last week. It was the same night that members received the most recent damning report from EHDC strategic manager Bill Price on how figures had been deliberately falsified to make East Hampshire District Council's planning performance look better than it was. But in a statement which brushed aside the threat that EHDC may not keep all its latest grant funding, and which totally ignored the scandal which has raged for more than six months, senior Tory Pat Burridge said later: "This is excellent news. I welcome the increase in grant, which will help us continue to provide a good planning service for local people. I am pleased that the improvements we have been making are recognised by the government." However, the council is still reeling from the damage caused when it was discovered that the start and end dates for planning applications during the decision-making process had been altered to make it look as though the council had been meeting government targets. The deliberate alterations also meant that the council had already received government planning delivery grant, some of which it did not deserve. Three weeks ago the council's head of planning development, Ian Ellis, resigned. And only last week it was announced that EHDC had been forced to pay back £60,000 of last year's grant after a previous internal investigation revealed incorrect figures had gone to the government. A second investigation has thrown up even more falsified figures, mostly relating to the start date of applications. And even before Wednesday's £650,000 grant announcement, EHDC Chief Executive Will Godfrey had admitted that there may be even more repayment shocks in the pipeline. EHDC had, he said, kept the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister fully informed of the council's planning performance investigations, and waited to hear whether it would be further penalised. But crucially, the independent Audit Commission is now carrying out its own investigations into malpractice over EHDC's planning figures. This inquiry will not be finished until the end of April, and it is possible the ODPM will want to reconsider its latest grant allocation then. In making the latest planning delivery grants the government has already warned that in cases where authorities have submitted "fraudulent, erroneous, inaccurate, incomplete or compiled in error" figures their grant money could be withheld by up to 10 per cent. In the statement from the ODPM last week authorities were also warned that if the government did have concerns about data submitted the minister could ask for more information, and if it was not provided in the time provided the grant could be further cut by up to half. At last week's overview and scrutiny committee it was clear that the council had finally decided to report fully and publicly in a bid to draw a line under the grim saga. Mr Godfrey told the meeting: "We have to work hard to regain trust in the service and I am keen to do it. One of the ways we are trying to do it is that we made a decision to present this to you in open session. I want the issues to be properly and openly debated." He stressed that the last few weeks of Mr Price's investigations had been very difficult for council staff. "The difficulties we face must not detract from the ongoing commitment and professionalism of the staff in the planning department,' he said. And he praised Mr Price for his thorough handling of the "unpalatable" issues. "There is clear evidence that there was a deliberate attempt to manipulate start dates, and the reason we are where we are is not because Acolaid (the computer system) is a bad system, but because we did not understand how to use it, and that is something we need to recognise," he told the meeting. Mr Godfrey added that the decision taken in September 2004 to alter a date relating to a major application had been "indefensible, and it could open the council to further repayment of money to the ODPM.' He said there was no evidence that there had been pressure from councillors to reach government targets, it appeared that the malpractice had been purely with officers. It was now time to turn the council's attention to the future, said Mr Godfrey, and to go ahead with the action plans. This included putting in place interim management arrangements, recruiting a new head of planning development, undertaking a full business process management review of the planning unit and making updates to the overview and scrutiny committee on the progress made. "I genuinely believe that Mr Price has done well to get to the bottom of an issue that has been very unpalatable. Let's make sure we go forward and get a better service," he concluded. Councillors paid tribute to planning staff, who they said had continued to work superbly, in tense and difficult circumstances. But Liberal Democrat leader Tony Ludlow was verbally mauled when he said he believed there should be an increase in staff. The council, he said, believed it had enough planning staff because it seemed they were meeting targets, but he warned that more officers may be needed. He added: "We clearly have been asking more of our staff, than they, superb as they are, are capable of delivering. We must not draw the line and bury this issue because we need to continue to learn what it is that needs to be put right to achieve the correct figures. "There is a great deal to learn. The staff are excellent, but we as members have not supported them. We haven't given them enough colleagues." Tory Ferris Cowper accused Mr Ludlow of making party political comments. Mr Burridge slammed his remarks as "rubbish", and deputy Tory leader Sam James said he was "appalled", adding that the council had devoted much time to trying to recruit staff.
