THE Chair of a planning panel has told his fellow members they should stand down if they are opposed to the idea of retrospective planning applications.

Councillor Shabir Hussain chairs the Bradford Area Planning Panel, and at a meeting on Wednesday he criticised fellow member Councillor Riaz Ahmed after he said he was against the idea of applications being submitted after work has already been done.

They had been discussing a retrospective application to build a rear extension to 149 Wilmer Road in Manningham, submitted by Z Rahim.

Cllr Ahmed (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor) raised concerns over the retrospective nature of the application, saying he was opposed to applications being submitted after they had already been built, and worrying the panel would set a precedent if they approved it.

Cllr Hussain (Lab, Manningham) said people had every right to submit retrospective plans, and Councillors should not pre-judge applications just because they are retrospective.

He said: "If you are against retrospective plans, you shouldn't be on this panel. You need to understand that.

"The applicants pay their fees just like everyone else. We take money from these people, we need to treat them fairly."

The application was then approved.

Cllr Hussain's views are worlds apart from those of the panel's former Chair, Councillor Doreen Lee (Lab, Keighley East). In the past she has been hugely critical of retrospective applications, telling applicants and fellow councillors they were “the thing I hate more than anything."

At a meeting in September 2015 she told members: "I don't like retrospective. I really, really don't like it.

"If you think you can flout the law of this land then get it into your heads, all of you - it ain't going to happen.

"I'm not having all these retrospective things coming in here, even if I have to put my head on the line. It's not happening."