'Large concern' at WNC over Government plans to overhaul planning rules which would mean less scrutiny for housing developments
Councillors have raised concerns about government proposals to overhaul planning rules, which could make it more difficult for some developments to be scrutinised in public meetings.
The suggested changes will set out clear powers for planning officers to rubberstamp certain applications without permission from council committees, if they comply with local policy and they see fit.
The fast-track planning process would take on a two-tier approach, putting major applications in front of committees and leaving smaller projects for officers under delegated decisions.
Major applications are defined as residential development of 10 or more dwellings, non-residential development of more than 1000sqm of new floor space, or any other development on a site larger than 1ha. This proposal would not alter current decision making practice at WNC as the types of applications, unless called in through ward Councillor call in powers, are already delegated.
However, a new category of ‘medium scale’ housing development would also be created under the proposed changes. This would move all schemes under 50 units from planning committees back to planning officers.
There is also currently no proposals to keep the ‘call in’ method to raise such schemes under the government’s changes.
‘Not subject to democratic scrutiny’
A report given to West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) planning policy committee said: “The paper recognises that, particularly in small scale District Councils, this will mean that most housing applications would be determined under delegated powers and therefore not subject to democratic scrutiny.
“For WNC with many large scale Sustainable Urban Extensions (SUEs) it would still mean that there would be many decisions for the larger housing applications that would be determined by Planning Committee under this approach.”
Cllr Thomas Manning, Cabinet Member for Planning and Communities, raised concerns that in some villages, plans for up to 50 homes could “virtually double” their size.
“It’s a rather large concern that you can’t call something like that to the committee,” he added.
In a consultation sent by the government to local authorities, it asks if there should be a mechanism in place to bring smaller applications to the committee in exceptional circumstances. WNC’s response recommends that member call in powers should remain for ‘genuine planning reasons’.
The government has previously said that the proposed planning overhauls could “bypass planning committees entirely to tackle chronic uncertainty, unacceptable delays and unnecessary waste of time and resources”. It adds that this would also provide certainty to the development industry going forward.