IT is the £165m development thrown into chaos by the High Court and has led to the resignation of four leading politicians.

But now the new man at the helm of Winchester City Council has vowed to discover how the controversial Silver Hill scheme was allowed to go off the rails - and breach European law.

Daily Echo:

An artist's impression of the Silver Hill development

New Tory leader Frank Pearson, elected last Thursday, has set a target of six months to hear results of an independent review, which it is hoped will establish how controversial decisions have been made over more than a decade.

Several of the city's council chiefs, including Conservative leader Rob Humby, have resigned since a High Court judge ruled earlier this month that they unlawfully kept the city centre project of shops and homes away from public tender.

City bosses are in talks with auditors and Local Government Association (LGA) officials who are expected to head the inquiry.

The LGA could send in another council to investigate Winchester's affairs.

Cllr Pearson said: “One thing is certain: no officer or councillor will be part of that review, because it's independent. I don't want to be accused of trying to influence what they find and what their decisions are.”

Veteran councillor Malcolm Wright has quit the Conservatives over what he called an “endemic” culture of self-interest at Winchester Guildhall.

His marks the fourth resignation in two weeks over Silver Hill, following Cllr Humby, deputy leader Victoria Weston and opposition scrutiny chief Chris Pines.

Cllr Wright told the Daily Echo: “It's becoming endemic in this council that they don't act in the interests of the people, and look at information and simply ignore it until they actually get what they want.”

Defending the departed Tory leaders, he added: “The judicial judgment firmly puts the blame on the information we were given that was wrong.

“So why should [Cllrs Humby and Weston] resign because they've been given wrong information?”

Winchester Deserves Better campaigner Kim Gottlieb, who brought this month's legal challenge, has urged chief executive Simon Eden, corporate director Steve Tilbury and head of estates Kevin Warren to step down over “misleading” guidance given to councillors.

But Cllr Pearson said it would be unreasonable for officers to be held accountable if the inquiry finds they gave bad advice.