PPS Group
Multi-client lobbying firm PPS specialises in the property and development industry and is a member of the APPC.
On 30 July 07 PPS, was exposed by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme and the Evening Standard for using ‘trickery, deceit and manipulation’ to secure planning permission for certain developments. They were accused of bugging private council meetings, forging letters from residents in support of developers and disguising themselves as students to help builders, St George, obtain planning permission for more than 700 homes in Fulham [1] The Standard also received internal PPS documents, leaked by concerned staff, showing the then PPS director in charge of the Imperial Wharf account, Nick Keable, describing how the company had 'created a large number of letters for projects as diverse as power stations, quarries, and supermarkets.' This is all in breach of the APPC’s code of conduct.
The [ES] report found that many of the supposedly favourable letters sent to the council backing a massive St George Developments scheme at Imperial Wharf, Fulham, came from people who could not be traced. Other, real, residents told ES that letters they had supposedly sent, backing the development, did not reflect their views, were not written by them and included signatures that had been faked. Internal PPS documents, leaked to ES by concerned staff, show the then PPS director in charge of the Imperial Wharf account, Nick Keable, describing how the company had 'created a large number of letters for projects as diverse as power stations, quarries, and supermarkets. ‘PPS has conducted a campaign of this kind for St George as part of their programme to secure planning permission for Imperial Wharf. A steady stream of positive letters, garnered by PPS, has helped to right the balance in St George's favour.”
The Standard also 'obtained a PPS document instructing a staff member to pose as a student in order to get information from councillors', and told of 'how the local councillor for Imperial Wharf, Brendan Bird, was visited by two people claiming to be students and asking detailed questions about the planning application.' A similar fake letter campaign at Stansted although the Evening Standard couldn’t prove they came from PPS. [2]
Contents
APPC response
The APPC held an emergency meeting in July.[3] APPC chair Gill Morris said PPS’ law firm Carter-Ruck was currently reviewing the coverage.
clients
PPS Group was hired by British Energy in 2003/4 and is currently retained by Countryside Properties.
Resources
Notes
- ↑ It's a con-sultation, Private Eye 1192
- ↑ From ‘Another Whiff of Dirty Tricks and the Battle Over Stansted’ By ANDREW GILLIGAN / Evening Standard http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1025052/another_whiff_of_dirty_tricks_and_the_battle_over_stansted/index.html
- ↑ APPC meet PPS crisis
