Councils refusing to adopt planning delegation reforms are “regressive”, Rayner says

Her comments came during a Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee hearing on Wednesday, in which she also explained her reasons for pausing local government reorganisation, and acknowledged concerns that organised crime gangs may be exploiting the planning system.

A number of councils have refused to amend their constitutions to reflect the new scheme of delegation, which came into force on 31 October.

The scheme sets out standardised rules governing which planning applications must be decided by officers and which may be referred to planning committees. Under the reforms, more decisions will be delegated to officers.

At least four councils refused to adopt required constitutional amendments for the new rules, arguing that the reforms undermine local democracy.

The refusals come despite warnings from some monitoring officers that they may have to issue section 5 reports, having advised that refusing to make the changes was unlawful.

Rayner told the committee that decisions not to adopt the new rules were "regressive", adding: "Actually, the majority of councils have [adopted the scheme]. Those that haven't have put themselves outside of the regulations that Parliament set."

She also rebuffed claims from MPs that the planning reforms took powers away from councillors.

The Secretary of State said the changes had "strengthened the powers and clarified them", adding: "I think I have made it more objective rather than subjective. I have made it more effective and efficient, and I have given councillors the opportunity to exercise their powers on planning applications that are significant for their area.

"We looked at what other local authorities were doing, and we made sure that we had a consistent approach. And I think that's right.

"Far too many people get frustrated by you get one decision over here, which is completely at odds with another decision on something that's really quite minor."

During the meeting, Rayner was also questioned about her decision to pause the local government reorganisation programme in September.

The decision came just two months after her appointment and amid a series of legal challenges brought by councils against LGR decisions in their areas.

Explaining the pause, Rayner said she needed to fully consider the decisions before proceeding.

She said: "I needed time to review it, and therefore I pulled those decisions. And I think it was the right thing to do. I acknowledged the pain and frustration that was on people, but if I'm going to make a decision, I should read it and ensure I've given the respect to the councillors, to the local areas and to myself to ensure that I understood the issues and why people were in court over it and what the issues were.

"We've enabled some areas to go forward. We've said that other areas we need a bit more time to do that, but I'm confident that at the end of that process, we will have a more robust decision-making process to allow us to go forward."

The Government announced plans in October to restart the programme in five areas, while LGR decisions in nine other areas would be scrapped to allow fresh decisions to be made.

Elsewhere during the discussion, Rayner said that MHCLG had set up a group to examine planning enforcement issues.

One MP claimed organised crime groups were submitting planning applications for land they did not own before intimidating owners into allowing development.

He warned that councils faced difficulties intervening because concerns about an applicant’s involvement in organised crime and the source of their funding were not treated as material planning considerations.

Responding, Rayner said: "I've set up a group to look at some of these issues about what more we can do on the planning side, working with agencies like the police."

The Ministry's Permanent Secretary, Tom Riordan, said planning permission was assessed on the merits of development proposals rather than the identity of applicants, but acknowledged that criminals could seek to exploit the system and urged councils to work closely with police.

Adam Carey