An opposition group has slammed a “fiasco” that left its members unable to vote on a controversial planning application.

Community First criticised Enfield Council over its handling of a committee meeting after group leader Cllr Dinah Barry was denied a vote on a bid to build tower blocks up to 16 storeys high in Green Street, Enfield Highway.

And a Labour councillor who sits on the planning committee – former council leader Cllr Doug Taylor – raised concerns separately after he was substituted by another councillor without being told in advance of the meeting.

A council spokesman said Cllr Barry was unable to vote because Community First did not tell the council’s monitoring officer she would be standing in for her colleague Cllr Daniel Anderson until after the start of the meeting – but the opposition group has criticised the response.

The controversy relates to a meeting of the planning committee that took place on December 15. Cllr Anderson, who sits on the committee for Community First, said he emailed a senior planning officer weeks before the meeting asking if Cllr Barry could substitute for him.

This was because Cllr Anderson wanted to speak as ward councillor on another application considered at the committee, by food chain Aldi.

But when Cllr Barry tried to join the online meeting, she was unable to do so. After calling and emailing council officers, she was eventually let in – but as she joined late, she was not allowed to participate or vote on the Green Street application. Cllr Anderson was also unable to vote on this item.

Both councillors said they would have voted against the plans if they had been allowed to do so, with Cllr Anderson branding the situation a “shambles”.

A council spokesperson said requests for substitutions need to be made to the monitoring officer, Jeremy Chambers, and he only became aware of Community First’s request after the meeting had started.

But members of Community First, a group of former Enfield Labour councillors, claimed they had been allowed to make a substitution at a previous meeting without following this process. They also said the meeting could have been delayed, to allow the confusion to be cleared up.

Former Enfield Council leader Cllr Doug Taylor was substituted by Cllr Ergin Erbil, a Labour councillor for Edmonton Green – but Cllr Taylor said the proposed substitution and rationale were not communicated to him in advance of the meeting, leading to “confusion” when he signed in.

The substitution was made because of Cllr Taylor’s role on the board of council-owned energy company Energetik. It meant Cllr Taylor was also unable to vote on the tower block application.

Cllr Taylor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “There seemed to be confusion at this meeting because of the Energetik board role I have, whether for any Meridian Water site planning items I have to declare a conflict of interest and a substitute is designated.

“There was an item on the Meridian Water site at this meeting. The monitoring officer agreed a substitute be appointed, and this was notified to council officers. I had not thought that this specific planning application was a conflict, as Energetik is not specifically referenced, so I had not raised it in advance – but I guess these are always matters of judgement.

“Unfortunately, the proposed substitution and rationale were not communicated to me in advance of the meeting, so there was confusion when I signed in. Substitutions have to be for the full meeting, not one item, and have to be agreed with the monitoring officer in advance.

“I would not want this to occur again, and I intend to get clarification to avoid it.”

The application for the tower blocks in Green Street was approved by a majority of one, despite being criticised by residents who attended the meeting and several committee members.

READ MORE: Tower blocks up to 16 storeys near low-rise homes approved

An Enfield Council spokesperson said: “All requests for the substitutions of members in the planning committee need to be made to the monitoring officer by the relevant political party.

“With regards to the substitution of Cllr Taylor, in future council officers will confirm any changes to arrangements with both the members who have been substituted and the member replacing them, for the purposes of clarity.

“The first time the monitoring officer became aware of Community First’s desire to substitute Cllr Anderson with Cllr Barry was 16 minutes after the planning committee started at 7.46pm on December 15. Once this notification was received, the substitution from the group leader of Community First was agreed.”