Contact us
Visit CPRE.org
Donate
Planning Committees reform would erode local democracy – our response
The Government is consulting on proposed reforms to local authority Planning Committees. The proposed changes amount to a massive erosion of local democracy and we have submitted a robust consultation response.
Our consultation response challenges this erosion of local democracy. We are also urging all Local Councillors, Town and Parish Councils, community and campaign groups, and everyone who shares our concern to submit their own consultation responses as well. Deadline for submission is Tuesday, 22 July 2025.
Links to the consultation and to our response are included here and below.
Download our consultation response
Reform of planning committees: technical consultation
The pending Planning and Infrastructure Bill proposes major reforms to the way that local authority Planning Committees operate. These are the Development Management Committees, or Development Control Committees, at the District and Borough level here in Hertfordshire. The Government is currently consulting on these reforms.
Severe erosion of local democracy
The proposed changes would have the following impacts.
- Local people and groups would be prevented from speaking at Committee about new developments in their area.
- Elected Local Councillors would also be prevented from speaking at Committee, or from ‘calling in’ planning applications to ensure that the Committee – not planning officers – can determine an application.
- Planning Committee members, i.e. elected Local Councillors, would lose any local discretion in deciding which planning applications to determine in Committee and which applications to delegate to planning officers.
- Town and Parish Councils would be prevented from ‘calling in’ planning applications in their own area.
In short, a proposed one-size-fits-all national scheme of delegation will remove the ability of Local Councillors to decide which applications to determine in Committee, and instead give that power to the Government.
These proposals stand to destroy local democracy and are likely to result in unnecessary loss of our countryside. Controversial decisions that will shape our countryside for decades to come should not be approved without scrutiny from those who live there.
The government insists Planning Committees are responsible for the slow delivery of new homes. But it is wrong to blame the housing crisis on the planning system and environmental protections. The true ‘blockers’ are the big housebuilders which maximise their profits by hoarding planning permissions while drip- feeding unaffordable, poor-quality properties onto the market.
The government can hit its target to build 1.5 million new homes by prioritising existing permissions and brownfield sites, without jeopardising nature protections.
Respond to the Government’s consultation
The Government is consulting on these reforms right now. We have submitted our response, in which we state in the strongest terms possible that Local Councillors and local authority Planning Committees must retain local discretion to decide which planning applications should be determined in Committee, and which should be delegated to officers. Government may wish to publish advisory guidelines, but retaining local discretion is paramount.
We urge Local Councillors, Town and Parish Councils, community and campaign groups, and everyone who shares our concern to submit responses as soon as possible, before the Tuesday 22nd July deadline.
The Government’s consultation on reform of Planning Committees is available at the following link –
We have copied the consultation into a document, and included our own consultation responses in red font. There are only 20 consultation questions and you don’t need to answer all of them.
You can download the document here, and use our response as guidance for your own response if you wish.
Download our consultation response
Please support our work
We believe local democracy and the Hertfordshire countryside are worth fighting for. If this matters to you, please join us. We are a membership charity and it’s quick and easy to join online, all are welcome. Or make a donation – we hugely appreciate all donations of any amount however large or small.
Thank you for your support.
