Indigo Public Affairs

Indigo Public Affairs is niche lobbying firm specialising in major regeneration projects throughout the UK and planning issues. It employs 30 people and has a network of offices in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle.

Indigo offers "community consultation and political communications advice that helps our clients gain planning committee approval". "We are very good at what we do and we have an outstanding track record of gaining planning committee approval."

(Note: Not to be confused with Indigo (PR) Ltd, Indigo PR Co Ltd or Indigo Strategic Communications).

A team of councillors

According to Indigo "Most of our team are politicians themselves and this enables us to help our clients talk with and engage the local community and stakeholders. We help them communicate and learn from local politicians and political decision makers. And we help them with any necessary media relations."

Indigo doesn't list its staff but they include:

• Greg Stone. Stone is a long-serving Liberal Democrat Councillor in the North Heaton area of Newcastle and a former executive member for development and regeneration. He was a also Liberal Democrat prospective Parliamentary candidate for Newcastle East. Stone was embroiled in a row in December 2008, when documents emerged which appeared to show that Indigo was profiling likely voting patterns of the council’s planning committee, despite a promise by Stone that he would have nothing to do with Newcastle planning applications to avoid any conflict of interest.
• Darren Sanders, account manager. Sanders is a Councillor in Lambeth.
• David Boothroyd. Councillor in Westminster City Council.
• Richard Patient, MD

===Not quite "dark arts", rather "tricks of the trade"

In March 2013 Greg Stone confirmed to undercover Telegraph reporters that many fellow employees at Indigo also worked as councillors or or were involved in politics in some way. The paper filmed him as saying 'that even if certain councillors would not talk to them about a planning application, there were certain “tricks of the trade” which offered “a good way of, of getting round this”.'

“A bit of cunning is needed when you’re dealing with some of these ones”, [Stone] admitted. “I wouldn’t say dark arts but, but, there is, there is sort of tricks of the trade,"

He described how Indigo Public Affairs could help a group of overseas investors win approval for developments around the country.

He said that the lobbying company works for companies including Tesco as well as large housing developments. “Anything that’s controversial basically”, he said.

Services

Indigo offers clients the following services:

• Winning planning consent
• Consulting the community
• Local political project management
• Effective media relations
• Design, exhibitions and websites

It also boasts of

• Achieving planning policy in the green belt for a housebuilder.
• Working with the London Mayor and other senior political figures.
• Managing stakeholder communications to gain approval for a local PFI or PPP project.

Clients

Indigo Public Affairs doesn't publish a client list.

It was reported in February 2007 that Indigo PA had been hired to help build political support for London Markaz, dubbed a 'super mosque', by Tablighi Jamaat. Tablighi Jamaat is described as "a conservative and ultra-orthodox group with close links with the Wahhabi form of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia." Indigo is described as "a lobbying firm with a track record of supporting controversial planning applications".

External resources

• Councillor explains 'tricks of the trade' for planning approval

Contacts

Second Floor, Berkeley Square House London W1J 6BD
http://www.indigopublicaffairs.com