Bedford Borough Council has said the deputy prime minister’s letter to English local authority leaders and metro mayors about planning reform has “insufficient detail”.
In March, Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner (Labour) wrote to councils about the next steps in the government’s planning reform programme – the introduction of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and reform of the statutory consultee system.
The government is proposing a “faster” and “more efficient” planning process, but the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked the borough council if this will speed up housebuilding in Bedford, or if it raises concerns about losing local decision-making powers.
A council spokesperson said: “There is insufficient detail available as yet to form a view on this.
“Decisions on the vast majority (over 95 per cent) of planning applications are already delegated to officers to determine in accordance with council policies.
“The planning committee focuses on the small number of larger or particularly controversial proposals.
“The key thing that the government needs to explain is what they expect the “call-in” procedure to be whereby concerned councillors can currently ask the planning committee to take a decision on specific, contentious applications,” they said.
The government has said it wants faster planning approvals. The LDRS asked how the council will make sure residents still have a say in controversial developments.
The spokesperson said: “The council will follow whatever rules the government introduces in this respect.”
The bill aims to fast-track infrastructure like transport and energy projects. The council was asked if there are any major infrastructure plans in Bedford that could benefit from this.
“The energy and transport projects being targeted by the government are those identified as “nationally significant,” the spokesperson said.
“These are already dealt with by the independent Planning Inspectorate at national level rather than being determined locally by the council.
“The only such potential projects in Bedford Borough at present are East West Rail and solar farms,” they said.
Bedford’s mayor, Tom Wootton (Conservative) was asked if he believed the changes will help Bedford build more affordable housing and improve infrastructure, or does he see downsides to the reforms that could reduce local control.
The spokesperson said: “The proposals do not appear to be able to deliver a step change in either building affordable houses or in delivering infrastructure.”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
