The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has unveiled proposals to overhaul the role of planning committees, with changes that could see decisions bypass committees entirely if applications comply with local development plans.
Announcing the changes, the Secretary of State for Local Government, Angela Rayner, said the reforms would help streamline the planning system and tackle “chronic” delays she claimed were plaguing the system.
According to a policy paper published alongside Rayner’s statement, the Government is mulling three different proposals designed to facilitate faster delivery of homes.
The main proposals, which would require changes to primary legislation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, include:
1.A national scheme of delegation – “bringing clarity and consistency to everyone about which applications get decided by officers and which by committees’’;
2.Dedicated committees for strategic development – “allowing a dedicated and small group of councillors to dedicate energy to the most significant projects”; and
3.Training for committee members, to require that councillors undertake appropriate training before they can form part of a planning committee.
Director Brett Spiller commented; If eventually adopted, this is welcome news. A national scheme of delegation would ensure consistency across councils, rather than as at present, having to trawl through the nuances of every Councils delegation scheme in order to advise clients on processes, procedures and timescales. More delegation to officers could, in theory, speed up decision making and reduce the uncertainty of the present planning committee system, where even when training is in place for councillors, all too often I have seen local and national planning policy replaced by political expediency and popularism.