We, the undersigned, call on Rochford District Council to take urgent steps to strengthen public trust in its planning processes by:
1.⁠ ⁠Conducting a review of its declaration of interests procedure for councillors, particularly where members are involved in private planning consultancy;
2.⁠ ⁠Adopting the Local Government Association’s "Probity in Planning" guidance (2024), which states that councillors “must not act as agents for people pursuing planning matters within their authority”;
3.⁠ ⁠Referring any possible breaches of the Council’s Code of Conduct to the Monitoring Officer and Standards Committee for independent review; 
4.⁠ ⁠Requiring that councillors who declare roles as “planning consultants” or similar also publicly name the company or client they work for on the Register of Interests, in line with transparency expectations under the Localism Act 2011 and Nolan Principles of Public Life.

These steps are essential to restore confidence in the Council’s planning system and ensure that councillors act, and are seen to act, with impartiality.