Planning committees, delegation and joint planning boards

Transcription

1 Consultation Response Form Planning committees, delegation and joint planning boards We want your views on our proposals to prescribe the size and make-up of planning committees and the introduction of a national scheme of delegation. Your views on the membership of joint planning boards under section 2 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 are also sought. Please submit your comments by 16 January If you have any queries on this consultation, please planconsultations-e@wales.gsi.gov.uk or telephone Luke Seaborne on Data Protection Any response you send us will be seen in full by Welsh Government staff dealing with the issues which this consultation is about. It may also be seen by other Welsh Government staff to help them plan future consultations. The Welsh Government intends to publish a summary of the responses to this document. We may also publish responses in full. rmally, the name and address (or part of the address) of the person or organisation who sent the response are published with the response. This helps to show that the consultation was carried out properly. If you do not want your name or address published, please tell us this in writing when you send your response. We will then blank them out. Names or addresses we blank out might still get published later, though we do not think this would happen very often. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 allow the public to ask to see information held by many public bodies, including the Welsh Government. This includes information which has not been published. However, the law also allows us to withhold information in some circumstances. If anyone asks to see information we have withheld, we will have to decide whether to release it or not. If someone has asked for their name and address not to be published, that is an important fact we would take into account. However, there might sometimes be important reasons why we would have to reveal someone s name and address, even though they have asked for them not to be published. We would get in touch with the person and ask their views before we finally decided to reveal the information. Welsh Government 1 / 10

2 Planning committees, delegation and joint planning boards Date of consultation period: 06 October January 2015 Name Organisation Address Shea Jones Community Housing Cymru Group 2 Ocean Way, Cardiff, CF24 5TG address Type (please select one from the following) shea-jones@chcymru.org.uk Businesses/Planning Consultants Local Planning Authority Government Agency/Other Public Sector Professional Bodies/Interest Groups Voluntary sector (community groups, volunteers, self help groups, co-operatives, social enterprises, religious, and not for profit organisations) Other (other groups not listed above) or individual Welsh Government 2 / 10

3 Planning Committees Q1 Do you agree that the size of the planning committee should be limited to a minimum of 11 members and a maximum of 21 members? When CHC responded to the consultation proposals in 'Positive Planning', we noted our support in relation to a single scheme of delegation, targets for the percentage of schemes delegated and the size limits on planning committees. We would also recommend that all members assigned to planning committees are subject to mandatory training in planning and design. A smaller planning committee between 11 and 21 members will hopefully result in Members becoming more focused and prepared for planning committee meetings. It should result in pragmatic debate and more informed decision making. In the current system, which varies considerably across Wales, the potential exists for untrained elected members to make planning decisions or to overturn professional recommendations according to local political considerations. This has for many years stifled the delivery of housing in particular and many other important forms of development in Wales. Could planning commitees be monitored by Welsh Government to ensure decisions are made based on planning merits and not based purely on political considerations. CHC notes the Royal Town Planning Institute Cymru commissioned Study into the Operation of Planning Committees in Wales in 2013, which recognised that planning committees, committee members and chairs were all influenced by a range of factors including corporate culture. The Report made a number of recommendations which included a national programme of member training including the provision of an efficient and effective programme of ongoing member training, as well as mandatory. CHC members have expressed in the past that there is a wide variety of practice in the operation of planning committees and that there is a lack of consistency across Wales. Planning officers are being asked too much of and do not always have the appropriate skills to adequately deal with the changing face of planning whether it be in respect of Affordable housing or sustainable development. When it comes to Affordable housing the definition is interpreted differently across the principality. CHC would therefore welcome proposals for member training and that compulsory training be established which should focus on the role of members in needing to understand the planning system and their democratic role within the process. The introduction of competency frameworks should improve decision making within the planning system and increase the consistency of decisions across LA areas in Wales. Any proposal would need to be complementary to existing frameworks and initiatives and not create unnecessary duplication. Welsh Government 3 / 10

4 Q2 Do you agree that where wards have more than one elected member only one should sit on the planning committee? Often Committees will give weight to the views of Ward members when proposals affecting that ward are considered. Ward members will in turn be heavily influenced by local objectors. If more than 1 Ward member is represented from a particular ward, a disproportionate negative consideration could be given to planning applications. However, as long as ward members are appropriately skilled and are willing to challenge the electorate if appropriate, then if you have two experienced Members that understand and have interest in planning matters then should one be ruled out because only one Member from each ward is permitted on the Planning Committee? Some wards within authorities can have 3 or 4 Members. The make-up of Members is cross party and they may not get along. As such, views of Members within indiviual wards can differ significantly. Q3 Do you agree with introducing a quorum of 50% (rounded up where the total committee size is an odd number) for decisionmaking? The question of what happens if an insufficient quorum of members turn up - would the meeting be postponed, and if so would this lead to delays in the decision making process? Q4 Do you agree that the use of substitute members on the planning committee should be prohibited? It is vital to ensure that the Planning Committee Members are experienced and have the relevant training. Substitute members will be necessary where the death or illness of Committee Welsh Government 4 / 10

5 Members prevent a quorum being achieved. It will be necessary to ensure that all members with aspirations to sit on the planning committee in any capacity have sufficient training. A small percentage of unelected planning professionals could even potentially sit on commitees. The role of the planning committee Q5 Do you agree with the development management role of the planning committee outlined above? On the whole the changes are welcomed in principle. It will be a matter of adequate and appropriate training for all members. National Scheme of Delegation Q6 Do you agree with the inclusion of an exception that requires all applications that are contrary to the adopted development plan which are being recommended for approval to be determined by the planning committee? If not, please explain the reasons. Planning applications which are deemed to be contrary to adopted development plans must be fully debated in order to ensure that the development plan is not undermined. Q7 Do you agree with the inclusion of an exception that requires all applications involving an EIA to be determined by the planning committee? If not, please explain the reasons. Welsh Government 5 / 10

6 Agreed due to the complexity of proposals which require EIA. Q8 Do you agree with the inclusion of an exception relating to applications made by members, LPA staff and their spouses, partners and close relatives? If not, please explain the reasons. To ensure propriety in the process. It would support transparancy however, it is not always clear who the applicant is and currently officers and members are required to declare an interest in any application that has a link to themselves. Q9 Do you agree that the development threshold should be major development as prescribed in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Wales) Order 2012? If not, please explain the reasons and suggest an alternative threshold. The DMPWO 'major development' threshold of 10 dwellings is considered to be too low. However it is recognised that in small rural villages this scale of development would have a major impact. We support the choice of two development thresholds. Wales is not a one size fits all nation. Sites of over 10 dwellings are normally those, however, which are allocated in development plans where public consultation has already taken place. We suggest a threshold of 30 dwellings or over in line with views expressed by the HBF and others. Q10 Do you agree that LPAs should have the choice of two development thresholds? Welsh Government 6 / 10

7 See above. This would allow for suitable thresholds to be applied in both urban and rural areas. PPAs should, however, have the option to adopt this approach if they wish rather than it being imposed upon them. Q11 Do you agree that the national scheme of delegation should include an exception based on an objection threshold? Emphasis should be placed on the quality of objections and how they relate to material planning concerns rather than numbers on a petition or standard letter. Q12 If yes, is 20 letters from different people in different addresses and/or a petition with 30 signatures appropriate to establish that there is a genuine community-wide interest in the development? As with the point expressed above, valid planning related concerns should determine whether an application is taken to committee. Whilst this will demonstrate community wide interest, unless the objections are of a material planning issue we would question whether they should be considered. e.g in many affordable housing schemes we receive a number of objections just based on neighbours not wanting social housing next to them. This is not a material consideration. Q13 Is it necessary to limit member call-in? If not, please specific the reasons. Welsh Government 7 / 10

8 A significant proportion of planning committee items (a third in Wales) result from call ins. To ensure that the reasons given are purely planning related, measures such as delegation panels, should be used as below. As long as the member has received the training which the consultation documents highlights as a demand arising from the research and the members can justify the reason for the call in, then any call system will provide evidence of local democracy. Delegation panels may help in sifting through call ins and support members in decision making. Q14 Should delegation panels be introduced as measure to validate member call-in requests? See above. As long as the member has received the training which the consultation documents highlights as a demand arising from the research and the members can justify the reason for the call in, then any call system will provide evidence of local democracy. Delegation panels may help in sifting through call ins and support members in decision making. Q15 Should member call-in be linked to another exception? If not, please specific the reasons and provide a suggested alternative measure. Member call in via the delegation panel should be the sole means, again assuming that the panel members are fully trained. As long as the member has received the training which the consultation documents highlights as a demand arising from the research and the members can justify the reason for the call in, then any call system will provide evidence of local democracy. Delegation panels may help in sifting through call ins and support members in decision making. Joint Planning Boards Welsh Government 8 / 10

9 Q16 Do you agree that the Welsh Ministers should have the authority to determine the size of the joint planning board membership, providing that size is consistent with that for planning committees? Q17 Do you agree with the proposed population formula for establishing the numbers of members from contributing planning authorities to form the joint planning board? Should this be looked at based on the scale of development identified within the LDP rather than on a population basis? Financial Impacts Q18 Do you have any comments to make about the partial Regulatory Impact Assessment at Annex 1? Are the assumptions made realistic? If not, what figures would be more appropriate? First Question - no Second question - yes General We have asked a number of specific questions. If you have any related issues or comments which we have not specifically addressed, please use this space to report them: CHC welcomes the opportunity to comment on the long overdue reform of planning committees. Whilst we support a large proportion of the measures proposed, some areas of concern remain. It will be important for resources to be set aside to monitor the implementation Welsh Government 9 / 10

10 of the proposed changes with a firm requirement from the Welsh Government to implement the changes within a reasonable timescale. I do not want my name/or address published with my response (please tick) How to Respond Please submit your comments in any of the following ways: Please complete the consultation form and send it to : planconsultations-e@wales.gsi.gov.uk [Please include Planning Committees, Delegation and Joint Planning Boards WG23070 in the subject line] Post Please complete the consultation form and send it to: Planning Committees, Delegation and Joint Planning Boards Development Management Branch Planning Division Welsh Government Cathays Park Cardiff CF10 3 NQ Additional information If you have any queries on this consultation, please planconsultations-e@wales.gsi.gov.uk Telephone: Luke Seaborne on Welsh Government 10 / 10