If you are concerned about Cheshire East Council’s plans for greenbelt development, conclusions drawn by the Local Government Ombudsman demonstrate just what you are up against.

In a case concerning the change in use of agricultural land in the Crewe area, Ombudsman Doctor Jean Martin found that CEC had ‘knowingly and persistently misled the public’ and accused the council of ‘an apparent attempt to cover up.’

Information appearing on the Cheshire East website had been deliberately backdated to comply with the submission.

Dr Martin found the application was ‘flawed and should not have been considered in the first instance’.

She added: “What is more concerning, however, is the council’s failure in its duty to consult properly with the community during the process.

“An additional injustice is the loss of trust these members of the public will now have in their council as a local planning authority.

“Those who pursued their complaint with me did so out of an understandable sense of outrage.”

On its own this would be a damning verdict, but in another 20-page report the Information Commissioner’s Office criticised the council for its refusal to publish its £90m contract with Macclesfield town centre developers Wilson Bowden, and now has until June 11 to do so.

This is another blow for the council, which was ordered to release a report to the public in February on the £6.5m Tatton Park BeWILDerwood scheme, where CEC agreed taxpayers would take all the financial risk.

Meanwhile, council leader Michael Jones refuses to publish in full the £225,000 publicly-funded report into the Lyme Green Waste Transfer Station fiasco, expecting taxpayers to accept his judgement that it is ‘not in the public interest’ (after countless reassurances from the council that no such development was taking place, it will require a huge leap of faith).

You may draw your own conclusion from the above. Should you be one of those action groups concerned about the council’s inexplicable rush to develop greenbelt land, you may want to beef up your legal team.

Clearly, this is a council that reveals little and admits nothing until forced to do so.