Central Bedfordshire Council has voted against council opposition changes to planning powers, refusing by 20 votes to six to alter its constitution for new planning rules that would move more decisions from councillors to planning officers. The change was discussed at a meeting where councillors weighed the role of elected members against the National Scheme of Delegation.
The government wants planning officers to decide most applications unless exemptions apply. Under the scheme, planning committees would be limited to 13 members, and more applications would go straight to officers rather than elected councillors.
Hayley Whitaker at Central Bedfordshire
Hayley Whitaker, an independent councillor, told fellow councillors: "These changes are profound; they are going to be really felt by our residents." She also said: "As a council, we do need to take a bit more of a lead on this."
Her intervention came as opposition grew in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire to the new rules on who decides planning applications. Residents and councillors in both areas are affected because the scheme shifts more of the decision-making away from committees and toward officers.
Philip Spicer and Paul Daniels
Philip Spicer said the government scheme would mean residents losing "the only opportunity where they could actually speak to the council about an issue about planning, which affects their lives". Paul Daniels said: "In my view, a vital piece of local democracy is being taken away." He added: "If a development impacts our neighbourhoods, whether it's good or bad, as elected ward councillors we have had the ability to bring it before a committee."
The council’s vote leaves the constitution unchanged for now, but the National Scheme of Delegation still sets the framework for which applications go to officers and which stay with councillors under exemptions. At the moment, a third of the applications that are refused are overturned on appeal, a figure councillors pointed to as part of the case for keeping more decisions in committee.
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire
The government says the changes will improve clarity, efficiency, consistency and speed. Councillors say the scheme removes a vital piece of local democracy and narrows the point at which residents can put concerns directly before elected members. Which planning applications will still require councillor involvement under the exemptions remains the practical question for Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire residents watching the new rules take hold.
