The lessons start here

It’s all still a learning process; the main lesson this week was about the planning process.

Planning is tricky: if a matter comes to a planning committee then by definition it’s contentious and someone – often more than one – will be disappointed by the outcome.

For this reason, there are some tight rules to make sure that decisions are made fairly. Members of the planning committee can be lobbied, can take part in pre-decision discussions, but they must ensure their decision take place transparently. It must be clear that at the meeting they approach the decision with an open mind and considering all the facts. It is a quasi-judicial decision and has to be made in accordance with planning law and guidance – hence the need for specific training.

Planning officers make recommendations to accept or reject applications. Planning committees don’t have to follow that recommendation, but we need to have good reasons under planning law if we disagree. This is both to be fair to all parties and also because if we didn’t have reasonable planning grounds then on any appeal costs could be awarded against the Council.

The Government has set the framework for planning authorities. There’s a presumption in favour of growth, of “sustainable development”, whatever that is. Authorities must prepare a local plan which sets out the main priorities and objectives for the area and decisions would normally reflect the plan. At the moment Northumberland uses the plans prepared by the previous six District Councils but is currently drafting such a plan, which after consultation is due for completion next year. As the plan is still at an early draft stage the emerging policies can only be accorded limited weight in planning decisions although some weight can be given to the recent evidence base work supporting the emerging plan. As the draft plan progresses further towards formal adoption we will be able to give greater weight to the draft policies.

Other things that should be taken into account are the views of statutory consultees, like the Highways Authority, English Heritage and Parish Councils, and others eg local groups or residents. Issus like design, noise, safety are relevant; property values, prospects of better alternatives and restrictive covenants are not.

What does this mean for a Councillor who is on a planning committee? I’m on the North Area Committee, one of three area committees in the County; it hears anything in North Northumberland where there are is a dispute about the outcome and is not covered by the central committee. The central committee covers big stuff – things like major energy or infrastructure projects (eg wind farms), applications which have implications outside the area or applications made by the Council itself.

If the application is covered by the central committee then I can behave like any other councillor: listen, form a view and present that opinion (if desirable) at the committee. If it’s covered by the North Area I need to decide whether I should be part of the decision process or should step aside. I would normally prefer to be part of the decision process, unless I had some form of conflict of interest, and therefore would need to behave carefully beforehand. I would listen but not contribute to planning discussions at Parish Councils; any lobbying or fact finding would need to include one of the Council’s planning officials. This means I can show an open mind when it comes to the planning committee.

The planning authorities’ discretion to make decisions has recently been restricted by the Government. It thinks that planning processes have hurt economic growth and if it allows people to, for example, put up extensions or change planning uses on retail units then a thousand flowers will bloom and our economic problems will be reduced. I suspect this is overly optimistic and also forgets the fact that planning frameworks exist for a reason. For any one person who wants an extension, there sometimes will be neighbours who are badly impacted. Equally, a high street may not need a string of betting shops. We will see if this change is beneficial overall.

But despite this restriction, I hope and expect planning will be one of the most interesting parts of the role, even if also the most contentious.

 

Elsewhere, I had a discussion about parking problems in Bamburgh in particular as part of a general briefing about the AONB; this was prompted by a report in the local paper that I wanted to arrange a meeting to cover bank holiday and parking issues in the area. It covered the long term project to improve the highway design and management, focusing on de-cluttering, parking and traffic flow. The lessons from this apply to the other coastal villages.

And the sunshine continues. It brings parking problems but also money!