Plans for over 400 new homes in Rye - and the proposed Aldi supermarket - are either with local planners or about to be. The government has announced potential big changes to the planning system which Cllr Andrew Mier has concerns about.
The government's Planning and Infrastructure Bill is at its Commons committee stage where it will be examined in detail, line by line, clause by clause. There is one clause in particular which should concern anyone with an interest in sound planning decisions and sound governance. That is clause 46 which gives powers to the Secretary of State to make regulations providing that specified categories of planning application be decided by local government officers, not by a planning committee.
At first sight that might seem innocuous, even reasonable. After all, on the government's own figures, some 97% of planning decisions are already decided by officers under delegated authority. So where's the harm?
The Planning Committee Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees (published December 9 2024) was critical of the role and conduct of planning committees. The assumption of the Working Paper was that planning committees are at the heart of the
failure to build enough houses. However, as already noted, 97% of applications are decided by officers and there are many reasons why houses are not built - even where permission is already granted. It's estimated that there are enough outstanding planning permissions to meet the whole of the government's ambitious housebuilding targets for this parliament. The government is tilting at windmills, but I have more serious concerns.
Providing consistency across the country about what routinely goes to committee may be justified, but the power given by clause 46 is capable of being used to prevent certain categories of application from ever going to committee. Although it is hard to find an attributable public source I am advised the clause is capable of being used in that way and probably will be used in that way. The government has said that the national scheme of delegation will apply where land is allocated for housing in a Local Plan and the application complies with that Plan and other policies. (Rye's Neighbourhood Plan is part of the Local Plan). In those circumstances the government could determine that applications are to be decided by officers and only by officers.
The proposal shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the planning system. A Local Plan may allocate a site for a certain number of dwellings and may indicate the approximate type of dwelling, but whether an actual application complies with policy is a matter of judgement and balance based on the characteristics of the individual site and its surroundings. That is not a purely mechanical process. Site allocations are made following a public inquiry before an inspector, but they are necessarily a high-level decision. It is unlikely the inspector would be able to say beyond doubt that the site is for all time suitable exactly as put forward in the Plan or that the Plan would be so specific as to determine any application. Layout, precise numbers and design of the housing is unlikely to be in the Plan. New facts come to light and policy changes. An allocated site can cease to be compliant when policy changes or new facts emerge.
At present councillors to have the right to “call in” an application to committee where that application would otherwise be decided by officers under delegated powers. To give the Secretary of State power to remove that right is dangerous. If there is no possibility of allocated site applications coming to committee then officers will be taking decisions on the interpretation of policy without external scrutiny and without any right of appeal (save the blunt instrument of judicial review – not an appeal). I have the greatest respect for the professionalism of planning officers, but if they are to be the sole arbiters of what complies with the Development Plan then all control and all accountability is lost. This will undermine public faith in the planning system. Good governance and good decision-making must be founded on robust systems of democratic oversight, not trust in any individual, however worthy.
Parliament has issued a Call for Evidence on the Bill. If you wish to make a comment go to https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10216/
Councillor Andrew Mier
(Rother District Council, but writing in his personal capacity)
Rye News welcomes all opinion pieces on issues that affect life in Rye and the surrounding villages. If you would like to add yours to our Opinions section email info@ryenews.org.uk.
