THE man in charge of Wollongong City Council during years of alleged corrupt conduct will finally take the stand when the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry resumes today.

Former general manager Rod Oxley is expected to be drilled over accusations from staff that he favoured developers, even when their proposals obviously did not meet council planning criteria.

He will be questioned about his alleged interference with the independent assessment of development applications and his knowledge of the sexual relationship between former town planner Beth Morgan and developer Frank Vellar.

Mr Oxley will be the seventh person to sit in the witness chair during the inquiry, following former manager of development assessment and compliance John Gilbert who is due to take the stand this morning.

Mr Oxley was unavailable for comment yesterday and declined an opportunity to comment on Friday, but is expected to vigorously deny the allegations.

He addressed rumours last year about his conduct as general manager.

"I'm not aware of the specifics, but I'm aware that some people say, 'he must be on the take', or 'he has a lot of power and influence'," Mr Oxley said.

"I can absolutely deny most, if not every one of them.

"If anybody wants to come forward with evidence, I'd like to see it because it doesn't exist."

Mr Oxley was general manager for 19 years until his resignation in May last year.

He also appointed himself chief planner in August 2005, following the resignation of eight planners between 2003 and 2005, despite having no formal planning qualifications.

In recent years he had attended the table of knowledge, an early morning meeting between some of the city's biggest developers and council staff - six of whom are now named by ICAC as people whose conduct requires scrutiny.

It is not the first time Mr Oxley has been involved in an ICAC investigation.

In December last year, a separate ICAC inquiry found his conduct fell below the "standard expected of a principal officer of a public authority" after he took four weeks to report a bribery offer from a developer to a council officer.

However, the ICAC found he had not wilfully disregarded his duties.

Wollongong City Council is paying for Mr Oxley's legal expenses incurred during this inquiry, as promised by the council when he resigned.

He has attended the proceedings in Sydney each day since the inquiry started a week ago.

So far he has heard Ms Morgan claim staff were scared they would lose their jobs if they did not approve non-conforming DAs supported by Mr Oxley.

Ms Morgan told the inquiry on Monday: "Personally, I felt that we ... had to do what Rod wanted on a DA and generally that was to approve it.

"... we either went along with that or else your career was effectively over at Wollongong City Council."

Former environment and planning director David Broyd told the inquiry on Friday that Mr Oxley meddled in the work of experienced planners and changed council planning policies to ensure developments he favoured would be approved.

Mr Broyd, who resigned in July 2005 fed up with Mr Oxley's interference, said his boss had a close relationship with developers and was "too open for representations" from them.

He said staff complained of a "domination of the general manager in planning issues and the high level interference in carrying out their professional duties, directions to change their positions on planning matters and really quite strong intervention and direction being placed upon them frequently by the general at that time, Mr Oxley."

Mr Oxley is expected to be particularly questioned about the developments Victoria Square, Quattro and 14 Harbour St, as well as the redevelopment of the North Beach Bathers' Pavilion.

The Victoria Square development was approved by Ms Morgan despite outstanding concerns over its size and traffic problems.

Mr Vellar, who is behind the $100 million Quattro development, told the inquiry on Wednesday he had gone to Mr Oxley when he had difficulties getting developments approved.

Mr Broyd told ICAC Quattro was approved by Ms Morgan after he resigned.

That process was made easier by a new Draft Local Environmental Plan and Developmental Control Plan put forward by Fay Steward, the then manager of Strategic Planning.

It had a specific clause allowing the Quattro site to be 14 storeys, which was at least four times the height allowed under the previous plan.

Mr Oxley had given his approval for Ms Steward's proposal despite Mr Broyd's reservations, ICAC heard.

Mr Broyd said in late 2004 or early 2005 he had attempted to take disciplinary action against Ms Steward after she released planning documents to councillors without the approval of Mr Broyd, her superior.

At the first disciplinary hearing, Ms Steward had called Labor figure and then Manager Works, Joe Scimone, as a witness to the proceedings.

"Were your attempts to discipline her successful?" counsel assisting the commission, Noel Hemmings, asked.

Mr Broyd replied: "They were made very difficult. I was urged very strongly by Mr Oxley to..."

"It was in conversation rather than in writing initially, very strong verbal urging to discontinue."

Mr Broyd said he later withdrew the disciplinary action in writing.

Mr Oxley is likely to be quizzed about whether he was ignorant of the relationship between Mr Vellar and Ms Morgan.

Ms Morgan told the inquiry on Tuesday, she believed Mr Oxley knew about the affair because he had mistakenly received an email from Mr Vellar meant for her.

She said Mr Oxley showed her the email but instead of discussing whether the relationship was appropriate, he only said "you just better be careful".