New guidance to formally open up planning appeal hearings to filming

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is to publish new guidance that will formally open up planning appeal hearings “to be filmed, tweeted and reported”.

The Planning Inspectorate will issue the guidance as part of the Government’s review of planning practice guidance.

According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, “provided that it does not disrupt proceedings, anyone will be allowed to report, record and film proceedings including the use of digital and social media”.

Inspectors are to advise those present at the start of the event that the proceedings may be recorded and/or filmed, and that anyone using social media during or after the end of the proceedings should do so responsibly.

The Communities Secretary claimed that councils that blocked filming were “abusing state powers”.

He said: “Watching television programmes like Grand Designs, viewers have been baffled as cameras are stopped from filming meetings of the planning committee. Councillors shouldn’t be ashamed or be trying to hide the work they do. I am opening up the planning appeals that my department oversees, so the public can see how the planning system works in practice. Councils should match this by opening up their planning meetings and other committees.

“A small number of councils are blocking filming because they want to suppress independent reporting, just as some councils are clinging to their town hall Pravdas. An independent local press and robust public scrutiny is essential for a healthy local democracy: without the sunlight of transparency, the flowering of localism will wither. Heavy-handed councils who call the police to suppress freedom of speech are abusing state powers.”

In June the Department for Communities and Local Government published a guide to reporting on council meetings. The purpose of the publication, amongst other things, was said to be to correct misconceptions that the Data Protection Act prohibited the filing of councillors and council officers.