Former Harborough council leader suspended from his Conservative councillors’ group after emails about the new 2,750-home Lutterworth East scheme

The former leader of Harborough District Council has been suspended from his Conservative councillors’ group for six months.

The extraordinary move to suspend Cllr Neil Bannister was taken after he allegedly tried to intervene in the massive new 2,750-home Lutterworth East scheme.

Cllr Bannister, who led Harborough council for about 18 months, has now been banned from the authority’s Tory councillors’ group until early next year.

The top Conservative councillor fired off an “urgent” email to Cllr Nick Rushton, leader of Leicestershire County Council, and chief executive John Sinnott on Thursday July 30.

Cllr Bannister told them he had “strong reservations” about the controversial giant ‘Lutterworth East Strategic Development Area’.

Writing in his key role as chairman of South Leicestershire Conservative Association, he voiced his doubts just two days after he voted to back the under-fire billion pound blueprint.

Cllr Bannister’s vote was crucial as the vast 550-acre housing, environmental and commercial initiative by the M1 was squeezed through by Harborough council’s planning committee by just five votes to four.

But just 48 hours later Cllr Bannister told county council leader Cllr Rushton and Mr Sinnott that he had worries about three key areas in the high-profile masterplan:

- The Spine Road

- Nationally significant high voltage electricity transmission system

- Warehousing.

Cllr Bannister’s email and the county council’s reply to him have both been seen by the Harborough Mail.

Referring to South Leicestershire Conservative MP Alberto Costa, Cllr Bannister wrote: “Alberto has been championing in the House of Commons new policies on the appropriate siting of warehousing developments.

“Mindful of the County Elections in 2021, I trust that you will support Alberto in this to ensure that our party has a good message to say locally about Lutterworth East in ensuring development of quality commercial enterprises which compliment the ambitious housing development.”

A crown advocate with East Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, Cllr Bannister received a reply from Lauren Haslam, the county council’s director of law and governance, on Monday August 3.

She told him she was replying on behalf of both Cllr Rushton and Mr Sinton and that the council was strongly concerned that the letter could be seen as an attempt to manipulate the planning process and the decision that the council’s planning committee has now taken.

Harborough council’s Monitoring Officer, Verina Wenham, was informed and promptly told council leader Phil King about the exchange of letters between Cllr Bannister and the county council.

The district council’s Conservative group then met at a special meeting and voted to suspend Cllr Bannister for six months.

Cllr King told the Harborough Mail: “At an extraordinary meeting of the Harborough District Conservative Councillors Group on Thursday August 27, Coun Neil Bannister was suspended for the maximum permitted time of six months from the Conservative councillors Group.

“During this period of suspension he will not be permitted to attend any Conservative Group meetings.

“I cannot make any further comment at this time.”

Cllr Bannister, who led Harborough council from October 2017 to May 2019 and represents Dunton ward, can still attend council meetings.

Cllr Bannister is a very experienced local politician in South Leicestershire and became the council’s vice-chairman at the end of June.

Asked for his thoughts on the chain of events, Cllr Bannister told the Mail: “I cannot really say anything at the moment because this matter is under appeal.

“There is an internal party process under way so it would be wrong for anyone to make any comment until this process is exhausted.”

Asked how long the appeals process would take, Cllr Bannister added: “I do understand that internally the party wants to resolve this in a timely manner.

“Hopefully we will have a decision this side of Halloween, never mind Christmas.

“I am disappointed and there is a whole host of reasons why I am appealing against this decision to suspend me.”