Elected members will risk censure by Perth and Kinross Council officials to call for more transparency over planning matters.
Despite allegations of colleagues being carpeted for speaking out of turn, two councillors will raise a motion at the enterprise and infrastructure committee.
It comes amid claims attempts had been made to prevent it being heard and directly addresses the ongoing controversy over the proposed development of the former Kinross High site by Persimmon Homes.
The motion has been put forward by councillor Willie Robertson, who previously claimed the council had tried to “gag” him by calling on him to withdraw the motion.
Ahead of the meeting, Kinross-shire Civic Trust said it was “alarmed” at “the extraordinary level of interference by council officers” in planning matters it considers are “the legitimate responsibility” of elected members.
It fears elected members are being strong-armed into silence by officials wielding the councillor’s code of conduct to prevent them from speaking out or criticising council reports.
The furore came to a head this year when the council was accused of trying to bury a high-profile objection to the Persimmon plan from its own conservation officer.
The initial report questioned the need for demolition of the most historic part of the school and criticised the design of the housing development, saying it would adversely affect the community.
Those comments were, however, removed from the publicly-available documents on the council’s website and not mentioned in the report submitted to councillors. They rejected the plans, despite the urging of officers, during a heated
meeting in which there was repeated criticism of the report.
Mr Robertson is expected to address the enterprise and infrastructure committee to say: “The views of the conservation officer in determining planning applications for listed buildings and building and land within conservation areas are important material considerations.
“The current manner of reporting the views of the conservation officer to committee in which the report author summarises the conservation officer’s consultation response gives elected members insufficient information on which to base their decisions.
“In order to improve transparency of decision making and to ensure that full account of the conservation officer’s views can be taken, the comments of the council’s conservation officers should be included in full within the committee report.
“The conservation officer’s comments should also be made publicly available on the planning portal.”
His motion will be seconded by councillor Ann Gaunt.
A spokesman for the Kinross-shire Civic Trust said: “We are fully supportive of the efforts made by Councillor Robertson and other elected councillors to ensure proper and transparent planning procedures are upheld in future.
“Equally, we would also wish to see proper accountability and scrutiny of past failures in process, specifically in regard to the matters surrounding the handling of the ongoing sale and associated planning applications relating to the old Kinross High School site.
“The contradictory explanations given in answer to our complaints are not plausible and make it clear to us that we are not being given a full and true account of events.”