Wealden Councillor: Comments on Facebook Are "Damaging And Disappointing"

A senior Wealden councillor has hit out at a local Facebook group for posting “misinformation”.

At a meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee on Monday (May 17), cabinet member for planning Ann Newton criticised posts on the Save Wealden from Overdevelopment Team (SWOT) Facebook group. 

According to the group’s bio, the page was set up in 2015 as a place for campaigners to discuss the recommendations arising from the authority’s then local plan as well as “seek information to corroborate or challenge the findings”.

Cllr Newton said:

“I do occasionally look at the SWOT Facebook page. I think it is incredibly damaging and disappointing. 

“I think this is the first time publicly I have spoken about it and I would never put anything on there, although I may review it. 

“There is a huge amount of misinformation on there.

"Very, very unpleasant personal views and quite frankly I am personally ashamed people would stoop to the levels they do to put what they put on there. 

“Anyone finding it from the start might think it is a hugely valuable Facebook page. I

"t isn’t. It is just full of mistakes, misinformation and no doubt I will be quoted on it later today, which I have been before. 

“Anyone who wants the facts should come to us and not go to a Facebook page, which is quite frankly less than desirable.”

When made aware of Cllr Newton’s comments, David Connoley, the group’s sole admin and moderator, described them as a ‘political statement’.

Speaking to the LDRS, Mr Connoley said:

“SWOT has grown massively over the years and at the moment it is moving towards 2,000 members quite fast. In fact, in the last month it has put on almost 500 members. 

“It is becoming a bit of a force and I guess she is getting a bit nervous about what that force will mean at the national elections.”

He added:

“If you look at the original reasons for SWOT, it was to assist Wealden with putting together their local plan and it is still doing that. 

“Fundamentally Wealden have not put together a local plan and therefore they haven’t got a five-year land supply and therefore developers are running riot across the whole of Wealden. 

“SWOT is still trying to carry out its [original] mission basically because Wealden have made such a hash of it.

"Although] it is not just Wealden, it is Natural England and the Conservative government on top of that, all of them have made a hash of it.”

Despite this Mr Connoley said the group, in general, tried to be positive and had members working on local plan consultations in the past. However, he acknowledged that this positivity was not universally the case.

He said:

“These mixed messages are not coming from me personally, they are coming from many, many members of SWOT.

"They are coming not as original posts, but as members’ comments. 

“This isn’t an issue about posts, it is an issue about comments within posts, which is very different.

"There have been, on occasion, [times] where I have removed, as admin, a post which has defamation in it.

“I have ultimate say as to what gets posted, but any post that comes through I approve first, the problem being I am the only admin.

"They come thick and fast and sometimes at 3 o’clock in the morning.”

He added:

“I would like to think that Ann and I get on quite well. So I understand that what Ann has said there is a political statement. It is not the Ann I know when I meet her.”

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Cllr Newton’s comments came as committee members questioned her on planning matters in the district, including the current status of work on the council’s new local plan. 

As part of this, Cllr Chris Hardy (Con, Hartfield) asked about the sizes of new homes being built in the district, saying residents had expressed concerns that not enough smaller houses were being built out by developers.

In response, Cllr Newton discussed the council’s work to identify what housing mix is needed in the district and the policies the council has in place to ensure developers do build smaller homes. She also said the council was speaking with local MPs about its housing targets, which she described as “very high”.

After hearing from Cllr Newton, Cllr Hardy suggested the authority should do more to publicise this work. He said:

“If we are doing the right thing surely we should advertise the fact. I don’t think the message is getting through to local residents.”

Cllr Newton disputed this, however, saying she felt the message was getting out there but asked Cllr Hardy to make her aware of areas he felt where more communication may be necessary.

In response to this, however, Green Party leader Cllr Patricia Patterson-Vanegas called on Cllr Newton to visit the SWOT page, prompting her comments.