A councillor’s conflict of interest has cut short a planning meeting to approve the relocation of the Buckinghamshire archives to High Wycombe.
Buckinghamshire Council is moving the county archives in Aylesbury to the floors above Wycombe’s Tesco superstore after the retailer renegotiated its lease of the building with the local authority.
Planning officers recommended that councillors on a council planning committee approve the council’s change of use of the building during a meeting on Wednesday evening.
However, the application was not determined after Cllr Sarfaraz Raja abruptly announced that he had a conflict of interest.
He said: “Can I have a word with the legal officer? I have just remembered something, and I just need her advice on something. It is quite serious.”
He then apologised to committee members and bowed out of the meeting, meaning it was no longer quorate – in other words it did not have enough members.
Cllr Raja was on a sub-committee for High Wycombe Regeneration Board looking at how Tesco could be used.
During the meeting, members of the committee said they had concerns that windows in the council’s proposed archiving offices were too high from the floor level.
Cllr Steve Guy said: “I’ve spent a lot of my life working in office buildings and I would rather be able to see out of the window even if I don’t have a picturesque view.
“There are going to be Bucks council employees in there and I think that their health and wellbeing is important.”
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