London Councils has warned that moves to streamline the planning process must not come at the expense of local accountability and leadership.
Although the boroughs’ organisation generally supports improvements to the planning system, London’s local authority leaders are worried that some government proposals could lead to confusion and undermine local area needs and priorities.
In its formal response to the planning White Paper, London Councils expressed particular concern about proposals to relax the planning rules around permitted developments – minor household projects not requiring planning permission – and to introduce neighbour agreements which would allow home-owners to build extensions without planning permission, if neighbours were happy with their plans.
London Councils feared that the proposals could lead to inappropriate developments being approved in conservation areas, and argued that only borough planning committees were sufficiently experienced and accountable to the wider community to take decisions on sensitive applications.
The body also expressed concerns over the accountability of the proposed infrastructure planning commission’s impact on planning in London – particularly how it would interact with borough planning committees and possibly overlap or duplicate the mayor of London’s powers.
Michael Snyder, London Councils executive member for planning and economic development, said: ‘We are generally supportive of government attempts to improve the planning system – and the proposals to unify consent regimes and increase planning fees are very helpful.
‘However, attempts to streamline the planning system should not undermine its accountability to the local community. ‘Only local authority planning committees possess the required expertise,’ he said.
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