Government revokes planning powers for nine councils in respect of major developments

Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook wrote to the councils individually on Monday (15 June) informing them of the decision to 'designate' them under section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Pennycook stated that the councils are "not adequately performing" their function of determining applications for planning permission for major development under the 1990 Act.

The designations mean that developers with housing schemes of more than 10 homes or on sites of more than 0.5 hectares, those looking to build buildings of more than 1,000 square meters, or all other developments on land of more than 1 hectare no longer need to apply to the councils for planning permission.

Applications will be determined by the Planning Inspectorate instead.

The nine councils are:

• South Tyneside Council
• Dacorum Borough Council
• Malvern Hills District Council
• Cherwell District Council
• Epping Forest District Council
• Hertsmere Borough Council
• Wychavon District Council
• Rossendale Borough Council
• Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

The designations “shall remain in force until revoked”, the letters state.

According to MHCLG guidance, the criteria for designating local planning authorities relate to the speed and quality of decision-making.

Cllr Chris Whitbread, Leader of Epping Forest District Council, described the move as an "attack on local democracy".

He said: "We operate according to policy and law. Often that makes us very unpopular with our own residents when we are compelled to grant planning permission for developments we would rather not have. But that makes it all the more important that we are able to refuse applications that simply don’t meet our tests of acceptability.

“Just over 10 percent of those refusals have been overturned at appeal, marginally breaching the government target. The government has decided that is not good enough. It has decided to make it possible to bypass local democracy.”

Adam Carey