Government legislation aimed at speeding up planning decisions would ‘dilute and bypass’ the role of councillors on planning committees and 'erode' the voices of local people, according to the County Council Network (CCN).
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which will be introduced in Parliament today, will ‘tackle blockers’ and help deliver the Government’s mission of 1.5 million homes.
The legislation will see the introduction of a national scheme of delegation that will be tasked with deciding which applications will be determined by council officers and which should go before a planning committee.
The measures will also see ‘large and unwieldy committees’ banned to ensure a good standard of debate is encouraged and training for planning committee members will become mandatory.
The Bill will introduce a system of ‘strategic planning’ across local planning authorities and will reform the system of compulsory purchasing of land to ensure compensation paid to landowners is ‘not excessive’.
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Angela Rayner, said the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would lift ‘the bureaucratic burden which has been holding back developments for too long.’
Cllr Richard Clewer, Housing and Planning Spokesperson for CCN, welcomed the re-introduction of strategic planning as ‘long overdue’ but said councils would need to be properly funded to deliver the reforms.
He also raised concerns about the impact the reforms might have on local oversight.
‘[W]e are concerned about efforts to dilute and bypass the role of councillors on planning committees, particularly in rural areas where significant developments could only constitute a few dozen homes,’ he said.
‘By only allowing councillors to debate and discuss only the proposals that the Government defines as a large development, this will erode local people’s voice within the planning system. It will also take away the discretion that can be used by planning committees to resolve small applications that come down to very nuanced decisions.’
Cllr Adam Hug, Housing and Planning spokesperson for the Local Government Association, added: '[T]here remains concerns around how it will ensure that councils – who know their areas best and what they need – remain at the heart of the planning process. The democratic role of councillors in decision-making is the backbone of the English planning system, and this should not be diminished. Councils approve nine out of ten planning applications that come before them.'
