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Search the Public Notice PortalA SCOTTISH island council is set to launch a probe into a series of “fake” objections to plans to build a new hotel.
Orkney Islands Council is due to probe objections attached to the application for a 92-bed hotel on Kirkwall’s Junction Road.
The objections were submitted using names and local business addresses – however, this was done without the knowledge and consent of the business owners.
The bogus objections were removed from the planning application by the council when it was made aware of the situation.
The islands’ council has said this is the first time something like this has occurred since the online planning portal was put into use in 2008. It is now working to trace their source of the fake objections.
An Orkney Islands Council spokesperson said: “We have been made aware that objections, submitted through the council’s online public access system, have used names and local business addresses without their knowledge or consent.
“Upon being contacted by the affected persons and businesses, the council immediately removed the representations and are now investigating the submissions, including working to trace their source.
“The council is not aware of any other occurrences of this nature since the introduction of the online planning system in 2008. The matter will be raised in the national Heads of Planning network.”
The plans to build the 92-bed hotel have been put forward by Orkney Builders Ltd.
The company’s managing director, Stephen Kemp, says he isn’t concerned by the situation.
He branded it “time-wasting” and said it is “a burden the council’s planning department do not need”.
Kemp said he read one of the complaints in question. It had been submitted on behalf of the Kirkwall Hotel using the name of a previous owner.
Kemp said he had spoken to the hotel’s former owner after learning about the objection. In turn, they had spoken to the current hotel manager who said no objection had been filed by the hotel.
Asked if he is worried about the situation, Kemp said “it makes no difference”, as it won’t hold up the planning process.
He said: “The way the objection was written, it looked like someone had used AI to pull it together.
“It looked almost rational but it lacked any sort of understanding or ability to word it in a way that would have any impact. So, I’m presuming it’s AI that’s been used.”
He went on: “I think it’s very naive for them to think they could create a fake objection and for that not to be discovered over the process.
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“As an applicant you would try to appease objections as much as you can. That’s just the process you work through.
“It would have come to light very quickly that these objections weren’t from the people they claim to be from.
“It materially doesn’t affect our application. It makes no different to us.”
However, Kemp did say it could create a requirement for additional checks to be done on objections.
He said this would “add another needless layer of time and energy for the local planning authority”.
“That’s the last thing anybody needs,” he went on. “Everyone’s trying their hardest to get things moving as best they can.
“We don’t need to be wasting the council’s time. They’ve got more important objectives.”
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