POLICE should lead the investigation into destroyed planning documents to avoid claims of a whitewash says a Liberal Democrat councillor.

Clr Kevin Reynolds has called on the new council leadership to bring in Cheshire Police to investigate documents that were destroyed in the planning department as part of its call for openess at the Town Hall.

It comes after it was revealed the council had binned planning documents dated up to 1996 in a report on the council’s handling of complaints from residents in Culcheth.

Clr Reynolds (LD – Whittle Hall) said: “If there is dodgy dealing going on in planning I do not think if you hold an internal enquiry the wider public will say it’s ok.

“It should be open and transparent and the only people who can do that is Cheshire Police.

“This is the first sign of doing that. It’s going to be fair. Then we will discover if there has been any fault.”

The council is investigating the findings from the Local Government’s report into the dealings of Culcheth residents’ complaints about development of an access road in their quiet cul-de-sac.

The report condemned the destruction of the documents after the inspector was told the full planning documents for that development no longer existed.

Investigating complaints from residents, Anne Seex, local government ombudsman, ruled: “The destruction of the council’s statutory records was an extraordinary and inexcusable act of maladministration.

“This seems to me to be a significant and very serious failure of corporate governance.”

And the recommendation from the obudsman to close the access road is set to be discussed at a development management committee next Thursday evening at the Town Hall.

But more should be done says Clr Reynolds.

“How do we know how true the planning record system is now?

“Planning has been tarnished so it’s got to be Cheshire Police who investigate.

“It’s got to be far-reaching and ask uncomfortable questions people do not want to answer.”