Changes to the Planning System – There is an almighty fight brewing…
For those of you who haven’t read the article on Tuesday “National Scheme of Delegation – A Real Shift in Planning Power”, you should go and read it now.
It is a very radical move to change the way planning is working dramatically with effectively reversing the roles of Councillors and Officers on some applications. It also curtails the powers of Councillors quite dramatically.
When we debated this in the office, I said to my colleagues that I am of course entirely on side with the changes and have advocated for them for a long time but this is going to result in an almighty fight between Local Government and the National Government.
The reality is that Local Government has very limited powers really. Local Government is not sexy, it is all fixing potholes, trimming hedges and collecting rubbish. The one area where they have any “sexy” powers is on planning and development.
My words had hardly left my mouth when the first article appeared on the BBC website entitled: “Planning laws 'undermine democracy' claim villagers” where villages claim that the National Planning Laws are ignoring them and taking their powers away as a community.
Local Government is politically pretty fragmented as you know (and can see from our election map that is very multi coloured), but this will be uniting them and rally the troops. It will resemble Dad’s Army preparing to fend off a full-scale invasion of the Westminster Bureaucrats. They are not going to give up on their democratic powers without the fight of their life.
The situation is not entirely without precedent. The last time a Government was brave (stupid?) enough to pick a real fight with Local Government and their powers was about the interdiction of “Poll Tax” in the 1980s. And that ended up sinking the Iron Lady… and let’s be honest, as much as I love Sir Keir (and I really do) he doesn’t have the grasp on power that Maggie had.
The Dad’s Army of Councillors may be a slightly disorganised rabble of trouble makers, but they are the foundation of democracy and they are gearing up for a big fight on this. The honest truth is, they have nothing to lose by fighting this all the way. If you are a LibDem, Green, Reform or even from one of the smaller Parties like the Tories, the Labour Government has no power over you. They can’t withdraw the whip, they can’t have a stern word with you to start toeing the line. There are only upsides for you and your election prospects to fight them on the beaches, fight them on the streets and never surrender.
So, watch this space!
Henry