Reform councillors urge Dudley Council to defy Government over planning changes

Reform councillors in Dudley called on the authority to defy central government by refusing to accept new planning legislation.

Councillor Marco Longhi, leader of the council’s opposition group, warned that government planning reforms would ‘castrate’ councillors, making it impossible for them to fully represent their constituents on planning authorities.

The council last night (Monday) approved a motion to incorporate the Government’s new planning legislation into its constitution, after director of legal, compliance and assurance Aftab Razzaq warned it would be in breach of its statutory requirements if it failed to do so.

Mr Razzaq said failure to comply would expose the council to legal risk, and put its planning decisions in jeopardy of judicial review.

Councillor Longhi said he realised the council had a duty to comply with the law, but said it needed to put up a fight.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the Tory-run administration, reluctantly urged councillors to adopt the measures, which will mean almost all planning applications will now be decided by council officers rather than committees of elected councillors.

Tory, Reform, Liberal Democrat and Black Country Party councillors all took turns to condemn the changes, which the Government hopes will speed up the planning process to help meet housing targets.

But Councillor Shaukat Ali, leader of the council’s Labour group, said the extent of the changes was being exaggerated, and in practice councillors would still have the opportunity to voice their concerns.

Councillor Harley reluctantly proposed that the legislation should be adopted by the council, but warned that recent actions to protect the borough’s much-loved green belt may not be possible in future. Councillors voted to accept the new policy.

Councillor Patrick Harley said elected members would see their powers to protect treasured green spaces greatly reduced as a result of the shake-up, which will see almost all planning decisions made by officers.

“Our powers to fully represent out constituents is being eroded,” he said.

Councillor Harley said the council had recently seen its ‘brownfield only’ development plan adopted, but doubted whether that would be possible again when the plan is up for renewal in 10 year’s time. He said councillors of all political colours had worked hard to protect much-loved areas in their areas, and the Government was now stripping away those powers.

He warned that the next stage of the Government’s plan was to erode the local planning process even further, by giving more powers to regional mayors.

“Now Richard Parker, at the moment, is telling us he will not take that decision away from constituent authorities,” said Councillor Harley.

“I don’t believe that, because if Mayor Parker doesn’t do as his government wants, they’ll replace him with somebody who will.”

Councillor Ali accused opponents of the Government of overstating the changes.

“The new framework is not as dramatic a headline as has been made, and I don’t think its’ correct to claim that councillors will have no say.

“I think the reality is less dramatic, it’s far from silencing local voices. Local residents will continue to be consulted on planning applications, submit representations, as we are able to do now, raise objections as we are able to do now, an support applications through the statutory planning process. I don’t think the framework takes any of that away.”

Councillor Ali said 99 per cent of decisions were already made by planning officers in consultation with the committee chairman.

He said if the council wanted to make the planning process more rigorous, it would be more effective to draw up more robust guidelines and policies.

But Councillor Longhi accused Councillor Ali of ‘doing cartwheels’, saying the Government was transferring powers from elected councillors to unelected officials.

“Planning committees exist to provide democratic accountability, not simply to rubber-stamp decisions made elsewhere,” he said.

“I realise the council has to comply with the law, but compliance should not mean accepting these changes without challenge. We should use every lawful opportunity to preserve transparency, scrutiny and member involvement.”