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17
May
Is democracy being brushed aside in the rush to build more houses in Harrogate and Knaresborough?
Every month, a committee of councillors is scheduled to meet at public meetings broadcast online to adjudicate on the most significant local planning applications.
But eight of the last 12 meetings of North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee have been cancelled because there were no items on the agenda.
Dozens of planning applications are submitted monthly, but nearly all are being delegated to council officers, who determine them away from the public glare.
Bypassing councillors speeds up the process and puts planning in the hands of professionals who are more familiar with the legal issues than councillors.
But reducing the role of councillors raises fundamental democratic questions about accountability and transparency. Councillors are, after all, elected to scrutinise plans and speak up on behalf of residents.
The direction of travel, however, appears set. Labour’s plans to increase the number of homes being built in the county from 1,361 to 4,232 each year suggests the seven-person committee can expect to be sidelined even more.
Government guidance last month called for “faster decision-making” and “streamlining” the planning process. The guidance added:
Too much time is spent considering applications which are compliant with the local plan, especially where the development would be on an allocated site and where there are clear policy requirements for the site in the local plan.
The government said it would ensure planning committee members “get the training and support they need to fulfil their duties effectively", echoing what many developers feel — councillors oppose too many applications for non-planning reasons.
The guidance reinforced this by saying planning professionals reduced the risk of costly delays and appeals. The recent Knox Lane saga, in which councillors refused to support the officer’s recommendation to approve 53 homes on the edge of Harrogate, highlighted this.
Teesside developer Jomast appealed the decision, won and was awarded £180,000 costs against the council.
Knox Lane campaigners won the support of councillors — but their support was overturned on appeal.
Councillor pay
There are other financial considerations: John Mann, the Conservative councillor for Oatlands and Pannal, receives an allowance of £3,891 a year for chairing the planning committee. Vice-chair Cllr Chris Aldred, a Liberal Democrat who represents High Harrogate and Kingsley, receives £1,485. Other committee members are not remunerated.
Additionally, the chair and vice-chair of the strategic planning committee, which North Yorkshire Council created to determine major developments, receive allowances of £7,110 and £2,184 respectively.
Over the last year, the Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee has only dealt with six applications in the four meetings that took place; the strategic planning committee has ruled on just four local ones.
It means £14,670 has been paid to committee chairs and vice-chars who have adjudicated on just 10 applications.
Cllr John Mann
We asked Cllr Mann how he felt about the trend towards council officers overseeing more applications.
He said:
I am happy with how the scheme of delegation is working and I think that officers provide a good service in dealing with planning applications that are submitted by landowners, developers and the public. The key thing is that the planning authority delivers an efficient service in dealing with the many applications that they receive and that they do so in a transparent and accountable way.
The government sets targets for planning authorities and these state that major planning applications have to be determined within 13 weeks, and minor ones within eight weeks. In my view, North Yorkshire Council does a good job of meeting these targets.
At the same time under the council’s constitution, individual councillors can call in planning applications in their division if they consider that there are sound planning reasons for the application being dealt with in public by the planning committee. This ensures that controversial planning applications that affect the wider community or street scene can be dealt with in a transparent way that also enables members of the public to address the planning committee in person if they so wish.
Harrogate and Knaresborough prop up table
The decline of planning committees has been particularly acute in Harrogate and Knaresborough. The constituency props up the table showing how often each planning committee and the strategic planning committee has met.
Thirsk and Malton 12 out of 13
Richmond 10 out of 12
Selby and Ainsty 10 out of 13
Skipton and Ripon 9 out of 12
Strategic planning committee 8 out of 15
Scarborough 6 out of 12
Harrogate and Knaresborough 4 out of 12
A Local Government Association survey in February this year revealed that 50% of councils delegate more than 96% of planning decisions to officers.
Some property firms are keen to see this figure increase further. Property developer Sir Stuart Lipton told the Sunday Times this month: “Local planning officers should gain powers to approve developments aligned with local plans or national policy, avoiding delays from political committees."
Cllr Chris Aldred
Cllr Aldred said he would like to see local councillors making more decisions but the government disagreed.
He said because the newly created Harrogate Town Council is a statutory consultee on all planning applications within its boundary, it could raise concerns and objections that could lead to more decisions being brought to the planning committee.
But he added:
The fact that the Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors are not currently calling in applications – I can’t remember one this last year – would indicate that, overall, local members are happy with the decisions being made.
The Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee will sit on May 27 to decide whether to approve Harrogate College's £22 million redevelopment — but meetings appear likely to become increasingly infrequent.
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