A NATIONAL independent body will carry out a review into planning practices at Bolton Council in a matter of months.

The Planning Advisory Service will head up the long-awaited planning review which comes after councillors approved a motion on the topic last year.

The PAS is a national body with expertise in local government matters such as planning.

Bolton Council has confirmed that the inquiry will start in the next few months.

It was Bromley Cross councillor, Norman Critchley who brought the successful motion — calling for a full planning review — to council, suggesting that the authority’s processes were “open to corruption”.

Despite describing Cllr Critchley’s motion as a “disgraceful attack,” the Labour group said it had nothing to hide and voted unanimously in favour of holding the inquiry.

The group actually went one further and successfully proposed that such reviews will be carried out on a regular basis.

The council is currently working with the PAS to work out the scope of the review and how it will take place.

Members of the planning committee are keen that certain criteria will be met during the important review.

Lib Dem leader, Cllr Roger Hayes, who sits on the committee, said: “I think it's important that the terms of reference mean that the public and councillors can bring evidence to the inquiry and that any decision will be made public.

“I think there is a great distrust of the planning process in Bolton by the public and people need to be reassured that either nothing is wrong, or that if something is wrong, it is ferreted out and changed.”

Cllr Critchley said he is pleased that his motion will result in a review by a national, independent body.

He said: “They are completely independent and I think they have expertise in these areas.

“This has got to be done properly and I think it is important that people can bring evidence to the inquiry in private and not publicly, which will encourage people to come forward.”

He added: “This inquiry is absolutely vital because there are a lot of people that are very concerned about planning in Bolton.”

In agreeing to the motion last year, senior Labour councillor, Nick Peel said: “We are not going to be browbeaten by a very dubious stance at some form of moral indignation by the party opposite and we are certainly not going to be accused of a lack of transparency and openness.”

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: “The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) will be carrying out the review.

“We are working with them as to what shape the review will take and how it will be conducted, and once this detail is confirmed we will be letting committee members know.

“The scope of the review will be in accordance with what was requested in the motion, and it is expected that it will start in the next few months.”