TORY councillors should have declared an interest when considering a planning application from a developer whose wife had made a contribution to Conservative Party funds.

That’s claim by Romsey Lib Dem councillor, Mark Cooper, following a recent meeting of Test Valley southern area planning committee which approved an application from Alwyn De Souza, of D& K Contracting, for an additional flat in the roof-space of the development, which is nearing completion.

Mr Cooper said that a £2,000 donation from the developer’s wife, Anna, was made on March 12, 2010, to the Romsey Conservative Association and registered by Romsey’s MP, Caroline Nokes, on June 3, 2010.

“The vote was 10-7 for permission. All of those voting in favour were either members of, or associated with, the Romsey Conservative Association,” said Mr Cooper. “Not one of them declared an interest.

“In all fairness, there is no direct evidence that the permission and the donation are related”, said Mr Cooper. “But the Romsey Conservative Association, by accepting developer donations, especially when there is an active planning application in the pipeline, is bringing the planning process into disrepute”.

Conservative councillor, Martin Hatley, the borough’s deputy leader, who was one of the Conservative councillors who voted in favour of Mr De Souza’s latest application, said he was unaware that Mrs De Souza had made any donation to the Tory party. “As I didn’t know about the donation, it did not cloud my judgement when considering this application,” said Mr Hatley.

“To my knowledge, I have never met Mrs De Souza, nor do I know what her political affiliations are,” he said. “However, I do know Mr De Souza as he is a regular applicant.”

After speaking to the Advertiser, Mr Hatley checked with the Conservative Association office, who confirmed that the money had been donated to Caroline Nokes’s General Election fighting fund and that Tory councillors received no benefit from it.

An officer on behalf of Romsey & Southampton North Conservative Association said that the donation was properly recorded in accordance with the rules and at a planning meeting in September, 2010. Caroline Nokes had declared a prejudicial interest and left the meeting whilst the application was discussed.

The Conservatives are now seeking advice on this issue which could cause them a dilemma in future planning debates.

If in future, all Conservative councillors had to declare an interest when debating an application from a party donor, this could leave only Lib Dem councillors left in the committee room to vote.

Alwyn De Souza told the Advertiser: “This was my wife’s donation to Mrs Nokes’s election fund from her own personal funds.”

He said he was disappointed that Mr Cooper was seeking to make the matter an issue and said politics should be kept out of planning matters.

Although this latest amendment was recommended for approval by TVBC planning officers, Mr De Souza’s development of the White House site at Cupernham has been dogged by setbacks.

An application for the demolition of White House and the construction of a block of nine flats was refused by TVBC’s planning committee in 2009. An appeal by the applicant was dismissed by a government planning inspector in March, 2010.

A new application for a pair of semi-detached, three-bedroom dwellings and a block of four flats was was refused by Southern Planning Committee in June, but approved when re-submitted in October.

The Tories were at the centre of a similar row five years ago when Romsey Conservative Association accepted a £5,000 donation from The Perbury Group Ltd, which at the time was seeking to increase the allocation of houses on the Abbotwood site.