Government plans to exclude planning authorities from strategic planning could result in confusion and complexity which undermines housebuilding plans, district councils have warned.
Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook today announced the rollout of strategic planning boards, which will prepare the spatial development strategies that will plot housing and infrastructure growth beyond the boundaries of individual councils.
In areas without mayoral strategic authorities, responsibility will lie with county councils – which do not have large planning functions – and unitary councils. There is no requirement for district councils to be represented on the new boards.
District councils are planning authorities with statutory responsibility for taking decisions on the vast majority of planning applications. District council planning committees offer a democratic mechanism for elected representatives to shape places, reflecting the views of local communities.
The Government is currently undertaking local government reorganisation under which district and county councils will merge to form new unitary councils, in the biggest reorganisation of English councils in 50 years. However, decisions are yet to be taken on council boundaries for nearly all areas and the new structure will not be implemented for several years.
The District Councils’ Network has repeatedly urged that district and county councils work together and share expertise to ensure reorganisation is successful. We strongly believe that successful spatial strategies benefit from bottom-up input from local communities.
In response to the announcement, Cllr Richard Wright, Chair of the District Councils’ Network, said:
“While we support the reintroduction of strategic planning, it’s vital that the councillors and officers who best know communities are able to feed into the process if we’re to make the right decisions on where new homes and infrastructure are situated.
“It defies common sense to exclude planning authorities, with their longstanding local expertise and knowledge, from a full role in strategic planning. In some places it could lead to the bizarre outcome that strategic planning boards include no planning authorities.
“For as long as district councils exist, they should have an automatic seat at the table of strategic planning boards so the views of local communities can be represented democratically.
“The danger is that top-down decision-making leads to local people being cut out from vitally important decisions. Sidestepping local planning departments excludes the people who best know how to overcome the barriers to new housing and infrastructure, and work with communities to get development underway.
“The Government wants local government reorganisation to bring greater clarity in local decision making. However, the latest planning reforms run a high risk of undermining the cooperation required to make a success of reorganisation and to deliver the homes our communities need.”
