National Scheme of Delegation – all that glitters is not gold…
This week, I had a conversation with Oliver Patrick - a senior Councillor and one of our Directors - as we stood at the office water cooler.
HL: So, have you done the training on the new new NPPF and the National Scheme of Delegation?
OP: Yes, with our head of planning who is very good and totally on top of it.
HL: And? Is every application now going to get rubber stamped by her?
OP: Ummm, no, not quite! To be clear the Nominated Officer is going to wield a LOT of power form 1 November. The Government expects Schedule 1 AND Schedule 2 applications to be DELEGATED to officers. Councillors are going to have to change our ways and make the argument on evidence if we want to get the Officer to agree an application should come to a committee... but in Somerset we’ve been operating under these rules for years now as part of our internal “Planning Reimagined” programme implemented around 2020 so it’s not new to us.
HL: So, you have first hand experience of this in Somerset then having operated under it for the last seven years?
OP: Yes, very much so. It is great to see Somerset leading the way and it means I have first-hand experience and insights into what everyone is about to experience.
HL: I see, so basically the workload for the committee will reduce by 95% but pretty much all our clients will still end up at planning committee?
OP: What I think will happen is a lot of little applications (that frankly shouldn't be at Committee anyway like PIP and householder applications) will get delegated to Officers.
Based on my experience in Somerset, Members and Officers will want to continue bringing larger sites to Planning Committee for public scrutiny - but the big change on 1 November is that Councils must minute and publish their reasons for bringing applications to Committee. That’s a big change and has everyone second guessing the reasons for it. My two cents? Those decisions are justiciable - and the courts will soon settle the matter. It could make the Nominated Officers up and down the country VERY nervous about letting ANYTHING come to Committee!
In short, whatever happens, it’s a big problem for applicants… because those crucial discussions about a planning application will all be held behind closed doors between Officers and Members (who will still wield enormous influence behind the scenes).
HL: And what do you make of the new NPPF Paragraphs DM1 and DM3 that make consultation on ALL sites compulsory?
OP: Our Head of Planning focussed on this quite a bit - stressing that DM1 expects applicants to undertake early engagement with the community and other stakeholders to include a summary of how said consultation has contributed to the evolution of the plans. The government clearly wants development to happen WITH communities and not just TO them. I welcome DM1 with open arms. As a Councillor I am very happy to talk to developers and to use my democratic mandate to represent my residents by telling developers what we need!
HL: I suppose we had better get back and stat calling our clients to make sure they get their consents.
OP: Yes, it’s always best when clients come to us at the very early stage of their application - that’s when the most important work is done, long before rumours and speculation take hold. We have so many success stories to tell potential clients - and who knows maybe yours will be the next one!
