Runnymede saga continues ...

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Island City Council has no record of the building where heritage activists claimed Singapore founder Sir Stamford Raffles stayed at the Runnymede complex here.
Mayor Datuk Patahiyah Ismail said activists should instead substantiate their claims on the matter.
She said what was on record was instead the ancillary buildings of the Runnymede Hotel.
She stressed the permission to demolish was only for the ancillary buildings and the developer had to restore the hotel building.
"They are going to be in trouble if the hotel is demolished," she told a press conference today after chairing a council meeting.
The council has been under fire after the developer demolished the ancillary buildings over the Chinese New Year period.
Heritage activists claimed one of the buildings was where Raffles stayed while he was in Penang.
Patahiyah dismissed the allegation the council was lax in allowing planning permission for the project to be continuously renewed.
She said the issue did not crop up as the planning permission was still valid since development had already been carried out on the site after permission was given in 1999.
She said the construction of Menara KWSP allowed the lifespan of the permission to be extended, noting no limits were placed under the Town and Country Planning Act 1976.
Meanwhile, Gerakan Bayan Baru division chief Teh Leong Meng said the demolition was illegal as it was based on a 17-year-old planning permission which he claimed expired in 2004.
He said planning permissions can only be extended for five times with each extension valid for a year.
"The planning permission is outdated as the due date of the planning permission was 2004," he said, adding the party was upset over such a development.