Cllr Richard Welch SITE visits should not be undertaken by individual councillors in their own time, a former chairman of Craven District Council’s Planning Committee has warned. Cllr Richard Welch said it was important that visits to see the sites of planning applications to be decided by the committee were properly organised with officers present so as not to give the wrong impression. It would be too easy he said for a councillor visiting on their own to open themselves up to criticism, or potential bias. “Councillors should not go anywhere near a site, unless with officers,” he said.