In response to an opinion article by Cllr Chris Aldred, the Liberal Democrat chair of North Yorkshire Council's Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee, on giving mayors more powers over planning, Chris Watt, chair of Harrogate and Knaresborough Labour Party, argues that we should welcome the move.

The fact that Andy Burnham is devolving more powers to regional mayors, like North Yorkshire's David Skaith, is a welcome step, transferring key decisions from Whitehall to local communities.  

Cllr Chris Aldred, the former mayor of the Lib Dem-dominated Harrogate Town Council, has claimed in the Stray Ferret that giving mayors more powers is "undemocratic". 

He may not have noticed, but David Skaith was democratically elected by the people of North Yorkshire and York in an election. The votes of people in Harrogate and Knaresborough played a major part in that victory.

The argument from the Lib Dems might have more weight had they used their massive and unchallenged majority on the new town council to ask for more powers, as they are entitled to do.

But according to the Stray Ferret, they've not done so, instead complaining about more powers being given to another elected local body. I wonder if they'd be complaining quite so much if the mayor was a Lib Dem and not Labour, but the Lib Dems did very badly in the last mayoral election and there are town council elections in Harrogate and Knaresborough next year, so that might explain it.

The argument against more planning powers for the mayor might also be more persuasive if the former Harrogate Borough Council had a better record on planning applications. 

Just take the massive development taking place in the Kingsley area that it approved. 

Whilst we've been delighted to welcome lots of new families to the area, no extra health centres, no extra school provision and no proper traffic management was insisted on, for new or existing residents. This was despite the strong representations made by local people, including me.

The number of affordable homes provided was also lower than local campaigners like me wanted. The North Yorkshire mayor, with more strategic oversight, is better placed to ensure that we have the social and affordable homes we need, built to strong sustainability standards and in the most appropriate places with good local facilities.

So let's welcome the fact that Andy Burnham is giving locally elected mayors more powers and reducing the power of Whitehall. The evidence suggest it will be better for local people.