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 US councils, claimed David Cameron , a former senior policy adviser to Rohan Silva when he was prime minister. Silva said local councils had been given too much decision-making power, and with £2m at stake, the "incentive for corruption among low-paid officials and councillors is overwhelming". Silva also called for the UK to adopt a planning system akin to the UK , where property owners have unrestricted building and development rights, within predetermined limits.