So on Monday, my attention was drawn to an article by a Tory Councillor in the Girton Parish News peddling more of their spun fiction about the Greater Cambridge Planning Service and in particular the process called the scheme of delegation. Planning seems to be their target for now as they need something to moan about. It does nothing for the morale of the hardworking officers being constantly maligned.
I felt that this one was so bad, there needed to be a rebuttal, especially when the matter had been raised by a concerned Girton resident. So here is my rebuttal in full:
In his article in the June edition of Girton Parish News, Cllr Bygott claimed “SCDC adopts new, undemocratic planning arrangements”. What he refers to as the Planning scheme of delegation, the system by which decisions are taken as to which planning applications “called-in” by Parish Council or elected Councillors will be decided by the council’s planning committee. This committee is made up of 11 elected councillors of all political parties. Call-in applications form about 5% of the total yearly applications received and 95% of applications are decided by a planning officer which is in line with national figures.
Contrary to the claim in the article, there is no “new” scheme in place. The Council decided to make a Constitutional amendment to the current scheme, which was put in place by a previous Conservative administration in 2016. Some of the wording was deemed ambiguous in that it seemed to give the non-executive Chair of Planning committee decision making powers contrary to Local Govt Act 1972. The Council was threatened with legal action by a resident who challenged the lawfulness of the scheme.
The Council’s Constitution Review Task & Finish Group made up of members all political parties reviewed the wording and proposed a change to make sure the call-in process is seen to be clearly lawful so that the council officer in whom lawful power resides, the Director of Planning, makes the final decision but in consultation with the Chair of Planning Committee. This was the case prior to 2016 anyway. The proposed change was accepted by planning committee in February and adopted by full council on 21 May.
I was glad to read that Cllr Bygott supports a system in which a parish council or a district councillor can call-in a planning application, as that scheme remains firmly in place. But such call-in must be accompanied by material planning reasons as stated by law. The amendment proposed by Cllr Bygott’s group for automatic right of call-in without giving material planning reasons would be clearly unlawful and contrary to Article 25 Town and Country Planning Development Management Procedure Order and Schedule 4(d) Development Management Procedure Order.
The most controversial matters will continue to be decided by the Planning Committee who are directly accountable to residents for their actions. The Chair of Planning Committee and the Director of Planning continue to meet together and discuss all the call-in applications on the basis of the material reasons given by the parish councils or councillors and agree on which ones go to planning committee to be determined. The Director signs the decisions reached to keep it lawful. Going forward parish councils will be sent written letters to inform of and give reasons for the outcome of their call-in request. The voices of residents through their parish councils or elected district councillors will continue to be heard in a lawful way.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish any further clarification.
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