should an incoming parish councillor sit in PC while his own planning is being discussed?

Question

on 15th april an incoming councillor sat in while we discussed his planning permission.

he was due to start his post in May when 2 councillors retired

there was no vote as there wasn't enough applications

Answer 1

If the person in question was not a councillor at the time, then members of the public are entitled to be present for discussion of planning applications - and commonly are.  The council has to be robust enough to make a balanced representation to the principal authority even when observed by interested parties.

Of course if the person was a council member, they would be required to declare a prejudicial interest and remove themselves from both discussion and any vote.