Scarborough councillor resigns in protest mid-meeting over decision to convert convent on Filey's historic Victorian seafront into apartments

At a meeting of the authority’s planning committee on Thursday February 9, Cllr Mike Cockerill announced that he was resigning from the committee before abruptly leaving the council chamber.

The Filey councillor, who is group leader of the Cluster of Independent Members and has served the authority since 2007, has confirmed to The Scarborough News that he intends to stand by his decision.

The councillor’s sudden departure came after a vote in favour of allowing the former Endsleigh Convent, located close to Filey’s historic Victorian seafront, promenade and Glen Gardens, to be converted into five apartments.

The application had received numerous objections from members of the public, some of whom described the plan as “insane” due to the proposed nature of the parking plan which would result in the loss of three on-street parking spaces.

Objectors also claimed it would adversely affect access for locals and emergency services.

The Highway Authority had not raised any objections during the consultation stage although Filey Town Council did.

Concerns about the plan’s impact on parking were also raised at the meeting by councillors, including Cllr Cockerill and Cllr Sam Cross who said that the decision should be deferred.

Cllr Cross said: “I'm worried about the damage that it will do to our children playing there and I don't support this application.”

However, earlier in the meeting, Cllr Jane Mortimer proposed that the plan should be approved and this was seconded by Cllr Phil Trumper who said that parking alone was not a significant enough reason to warrant refusal of the plans.

Following a disagreement over whether a vote on deferral or a vote to approve or reject the plan would come first, a council legal officer confirmed that the proposal to vote on rejection or approval had come first.

The legal officer stated that this could not be amended to a vote on deferral.

A majority of the planning committee voted in favour of approving the plan.

As the result of the vote was announced, Cllr Mike Cockerill rose from his seat and said: “I do not agree with the way this committee is being run. I resign from the committee.”

The councillor then departed the chamber and the committee dealt with the remainder of the agenda items.

Speaking to the LDRS after the meeting, the chair of the committee, Cllr Subash Sharma said he was “disappointed” with Cllr Cockerill’s decision.

Cllr Sharma said: “Hopefully he will reconsider and I’m not taking it as an official resignation. I’m sure he’ll have to inform somebody else in democratic service so I’ll wait and see what happens.”

He added: “He’s a very, very good Filey councillor and he has good insight into what Filey needs and wants.”

Asked whether he thought Cllr Cockerill had legitimate concerns about the way the committee is run, Cllr Sharma said: “He obviously felt he had legitimate concerns though I believe we looked at that planning application with due consideration and there was a majority view that [approval] was the appropriate way forward.”

Cllr Cockerill later confirmed that he was standing by his resignation: “I have been concerned for a few months about some aspects of the way the planning and development committee is run.

“Today was the last straw. We had an officer stating that the statutory consultees had no objections but I had to correct that statement as I knew that Filey Town Council had made an objection.”

He added: “Regrettably, I felt that I could no longer continue and so, on a matter of principle, I resigned from the committee.”

The planning committee only has one scheduled meeting before Scarborough Council is set to be abolished as part of April’s local Government shake-up.

A replacement to Cllr Cockerill may be appointed at the next full meeting of the authority on February 24.

A spokesperson for Scarborough Council said: “We’ll be seeking confirmation of Cllr Cockerill’s resignation from the planning and development committee in writing.”