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14
Nov
Council urged to challenge government changes to planning system
A call has been made for North Yorkshire Council to lobby government over controversial changes to the planning system.
The changes, which came into force on October 31, restrict which planning applications can be considered by elected councillors with more decisions instead being made by council planning officers.
The move has led to the council cancelling planning meetings while it examines the impact of the new government rules.
But, Cllr Chris Aldred, Liberal Democrat councillor for High Harrogate and Kingsley and chair of Harrogate and Knaresborough area planning committee, said the move was made after “little meaningful consultation”.
Cllr Aldred is set to put a motion to next week’s full council meeting in Northallerton calling on the Tory leader of the council, Cllr Carl Les, to write to Labour's Matthew Pennycook MP, minister for housing and planning, raising concern over the changes.
He told the Stray Ferret:
Given that the new Prime Minister has risen to his status with a commitment to devolve political decision making to a more local level, one would hope that if a large amount of such letters are received in Whitehall, a constructive case could be made for looking at this issue again, this time involving much better consultation with grassroots councillors.
The motion, which will be put forwrd with Cllr Steve Mason, Liberal Democrat for Amotherby & Ampleforth, is set to be debated at the meeting on November 18.
Under the government’s National Scheme of Delegation, certain categories of planning applications will have to be determined by officers, with councillors no longer able to demand that they are considered by a committee.
Other applications will only be referred to a committee in exceptional circumstances, where both a nominated councillor and senior planning officer agree that they meet strict criteria.
However, senior Conservative councillors have also raised concern over the changes to planning rules.
Cllr Mark Crane, deputy leader of North Yorkshire Council.
Cllr Mark Crane, deputy leader of the council, criticised the move and warned that it represented a reduction in democratic accountability.
He said previously:
To be clear, this is not a decision of North Yorkshire Council.
I think we’ve seen a growing emphasis, both from this government and the previous government, on decisions being made by officers rather than elected members.
That is clearly because successive governments believe councillors are refusing too many planning applications.
It comes as a Stray Ferret investigation raised fundamental concerns about transparency and democracy in the planning system in Harrogate and Knaresborough.
Our findings reveal 99.65% of planning applications in the two towns last year were decided behind closed doors by professional planning officers rather than by elected councillors on planning committees that meet in public.
You can read the full investigation here.
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