A former senior policy adviser to the prime minister, Rohan Silva, has claimed that planning corruption is “endemic” in councils across Britain. His comments follow last week’s revelations in The Sunday Times that a businessman with close ties to Labour had been secretly taped demanding a £2m bribe from property developers allegedly on behalf of the party’s politicians. Writing in News Review this weekend, Silva argues that the planning authorities have been given too much power to make decisions that could dramatically affect the value of properties and developments. He writes: “Given that the value of a property can increase by tens — or even hundreds — of millions of pounds depending on what the planners decide, the incentive for corruption among low-paid officials
An inadequate system of property rights has led to "endemic" corruption over planning within UK councils, claimed Rohan Silva, a former senior policy adviser to David Cameron when he was prime minister. Silva said local councils had been given too much decision-making power, and with millions of pounds at stake, the "incentive for corruption among low-paid officials and councillors is overwhelming". The report also found that there were serious problems in how public money was spent on housing, including by councils.