THE COUNCIL will have to work hard to regain the trust of the public following a former councillor's conviction for demanding bribes, members have said.

Former Valentines ward councillor Suresh Kumar – who served on the council's regulatory committee – was convicted for soliciting a bride of £10,000 from property developers to assist in a planning application, and was caught after being video during an undercover sting.

The council swiftly released a statement to distance itself from the disgraced ex-member and said that there was no reason to believe he had unduly influenced planning decisions.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Bridge End ward in Woodford Green Richard Hoskins said the reputation of councillors had been tarnished by Mr Kumar's conviction and that work was now needed to repair the damage it has done.

Cllr Hoskins said: “Whenever a politician is found guilty of an offence, as Suresh Kumar has, it reflects badly on all of us. People are suspicious of politicians anyway at the present time, with things like the parliamentary expenses issue undermining any respect we had.

“We are all going to suffer from this.

“It's now up to individual councillors to establish a relationship with the people in their ward. They will have to repair the relationship by working honestly and committing themselves doing whatever is right for the people in the ward in which they were elected.

“It's a matter of reputation – you have to build trust and then a good reputation comes from that.

“We're all under a cloud at the moment and this has added to it.”

Conservative councillor and portfolio holder for planning and regeneration Nicholas Hayes said: “I'm absolutely determined that the integrity of the planning process in Redbridge is upheld. There's a great deal of training which continues on an ongoing basis for members, which is compulsory, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

“We do need to ultimately, as with all of these things, rely to a certain extent on the probity of the individuals concerned. Clearly if someone sets out to act in a corrupt way, I suspect they don't do it inadvertently, they know full well what they're doing. Lack of training isn't the issue, it's down the character of the individual concerned.

“Councillors are aware of suggestions that get bandied about why a decision was made or whay something did or did not happen. This incident is the only one I aware of that there has ever been any evidence of something soliciting or receiving something improperly.

“If I thought there was ever any evidence to suggest this was happening I would report it to the appropriate authorities without delay and I trust all other councillors would do the same.”

Mr Kumar was sentenced to 12 months in prison and stripped of the right to hold public office for five years at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday (January 18).