Staffordshire county councillors have refused to endorse proposed changes to the authority’s constitution ahead of new national rules governing how planning applications are decided.
From 31 October, a new national scheme of planning delegations will come into force, placing tighter requirements on which planning applications can be considered by councillors rather than determined by planning officers.
The majority of planning decisions in Staffordshire are taken by borough and district authorities and delegated to council officers. Staffordshire County Council deals with applications relating to minerals and waste, such as quarry proposals, as well as local authority maintained schools.
Members of the county council’s Audit and Standards Committee were asked on Tuesday 29 September to back proposed changes to the authority’s constitution and recommend them to the next full council meeting.
The changes would include reducing the number of members of the Planning Committee from 15 to 13.
But councillors spoke out against the national scheme during the meeting, with members describing it as an erosion of local democracy and raising concerns about how residents’ views would be represented.
Councillor Jeremy Pert called for the authority to write to the Secretary of State to tell the Government “how impossibly wrong this is” and copy the letter to Staffordshire’s 12 MPs.
Committee members voted not to endorse the proposed changes. The final decision will be taken by the full council on Thursday 8 October.
Councillor Pert said
“I understand this report is about changing the process, I understand equally that we’re forced to do this by Government as it’s statutory. I don’t really have a problem with the size of a planning committee, but I do have a problem when local democracy is being eroded by this government.
“As a point of principle I can’t support this report. Reducing the applications that can be determined by planning committee is fundamentally wrong because communities are a stakeholder, and to have stuff only determined by the officers is fundamentally wrong.”
Fellow committee member Councillor Ian Cooper said
“The duty of councillors and elected individuals is to represent their electorate. I could not support this in any way, shape or form.
“This establishes a principle that Central Government can basically override local authorities and push delegated powers through officers, bypassing the democratic process of elected people to challenge decisions made by councils. There’s no way they’re going to get my vote on 8th October for this, we should oppose this, object to it and throw it back to the minister in charge.
“We, the people of Staffordshire, decide what we want to do across this county. Here we have a government trying to impose on the residents of Staffordshire what they can and cannot do, that is not right in my way of thinking at all.”
Councillor Tracey Dougherty highlighted the level of development proposed in the Lichfield area she represents.
She said
“There’s currently a feasibility study for Packington for 4,500 homes, to which the constituents have made it perfectly clear they don’t want them.
“Despite the fact we obviously don’t have a choice here, I don’t support it either.”
Julie Castree Denton, Manager for Planning Policy and Development Management, told the committee
“The risk of not being in line with the guidance is planning decisions could be quashed, or there is the risk of judicial review if we haven’t changed our delegation scheme to meet the national scheme of delegation.
“The major proposals that affect communities do come to planning committee. Under our current scheme of delegation, if we receive more than four representations from locals it comes to planning committee.
“Under the new gateway test there is no trigger point. If one person makes a valid material objection on material planning grounds, it would go to planning committee.
“Also, if a valid objection is received by the local member or the parish council, it will go to planning committee. We already have in our scheme of delegation that if it’s a substantial new site or a significant extension to a quarry, even if we didn’t get any objections from the parish council, members of the public or statutory consultees, that application would still go to planning committee.
“The guidance that has been given to local authorities on implementing the national scheme of delegation states that the committee should focus on the key proposals that matter to an area, enabling minor or technical decisions to be made by planning officers. That’s what we’re suggesting, major applications would still come to the planning committee.”
Chris Ebberley, Head of Member and Democratic Services, said
“The risks to not following this legislation would be severe. The constitution has to follow the legislation.
“If you choose not to adopt the recommendations, we will need to go away to consider that, take separate legal advice and bring that back. That would need to be by 31st October, so we are up against it.”
Related Posts:
