Walsall councillors back planning committee following recent criticism as powers eroded

On June 7, the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) published a report stating that the planning committee required a ‘fundamental overhaul’.

The former leader of the Toy-led authority, Councillor Garry Perry, said the findings ‘cannot be brushed aside’, and the leader of the labour group, Councillor Matt Ward, said the report was ‘nothing short of damning.

But Councillor Pete Smith brought a notice of motion before councillors at a meeting on July 30, asking other members to back the planning committee as well as the principle that ‘officers advice and elected members decide’.

Councillor Smith said he welcomed parts of the peer review, but condemned part of the report which said there was a ‘perception of undue influence and suspicions over probity, casting a dark cloud over the council’.

He also said that he opposed the PAS’s recommendation to reduce the size of the committee to reflect the political balance of the council, believing the current practice where there is one member from each ward is more democratic.

Councillor Aftab Nawaz, leader of the independent group, also said it would be wrong to reduce the committee size to reflect the political make-up, because residents without a member from their ward would have no representation.

In the review, the PAS recommended that the council should review its call in process to ‘restrict them to necessary and justifiable matters’.

Councillor Smith strongly opposed the potential ‘loss of call in powers’ and said all elected members are ‘duty bound’ to call in any application which doesn’t sit right with their residents.

The report also said that when the committee refuses planning applications by going against officers’ recommendations, at appeal, 88 per cent are upheld.

It makes it clear that if planning officers recommend an application for approval, any efforts made by the committee to refuse it doesn’t carry much weight.

Councillor Ken Ferguson added: “The secretary of state overturning things is undermining the planning committee and now members are frightened to make a decision on the basis it may be overturned by the secretary of state. I think that’s wrong.”

At the most recent planning committee meeting, some members seemingly wanted to refuse an application for a children’s care home in Brownhills, one that was recommended for approval by the planning officers.

But those who wanted to move a refusal were brought to a standstill as they felt like it would only end up being overturned by the planning inspector.

On appeal, inspectors use the same policies the officers did, so the outcome is often the same.

Councillor Smith said: “Following the report, you should have seen some of the stuff that was in social media. Passing comments about ‘brown envelopes’, ‘corruption’ and ‘bent councillors’ on the planning committee.

“They were making all sorts of accusations, all because of this. I’ve got no evidence that members of the planning committee are beyond reproach.

“If there is such evidence, let those casting this cloud come forward with it.”

Councillor Nawaz added: “People tend not to understand what happens in the committees but because they don’t like the decision they put things on social media that are quite disgusting really.

“I’ve sat on a committee where we’ve had people in the gallery who have threatened to rip off the headscarf of one of the councillors because they didn’t like the decision. We’ve made decisions and people in the gallery have been clapping and applauding us.

“In this process there’s always a winner and always a loser, so you can’t win.

“People do get emotional when their applications get turned down and once they get emotional, they accuse everybody of all sorts of things.”

Councillor Mike Bird, leader of the council and chair of the planning committee, said: “I will never sit there and be dictated to by a professional officer who does not have to live in the area.

I’ll tell you now, when the infrastructure bill goes through parliament, planning committees will be defunct. They will have no power whatsoever.

“There is a perception for every planning committee in the country when applications don’t go the objectors way.

“When you do what people want, you’re a hero, and if you don’t you’re a villain or worse. But perception is one thing and reality is another.”