Changes to the way planning applications are dealt with have been described as ‘an assault on democracy’ by a Chichester councillor.
Roy Briscoe (Con, Westbourne) spoke during a meeting of the district council on Wednesday (September 23) – and he wasn’t the only one unhappy with the changes.
The government’s National Scheme of Delegation comes into force on October 31 and will change the system which decides whether applications should be dealt with by planning committees or by planning officers.
Chichester’s Red Card system, which allows individual district, city, town and parish councillors to call for an application to be put to the committee, will be withdrawn.
Dominic Merritt (Lib Dem, Midhurst) said the change would reduce the ability of town and parish councils to ‘ensure applications of local importance receive democratic consideration’. And he raised concerns that they would be ‘taking democracy away from communities the system is meant to serve’.
Leader Adrian Moss called the changes ‘the removal of democracy’ but added that the council was ‘being as proactive as we possibly can, but within the rules and laws that the government is introducing’.
He advised that, once the changes came into effect, it would be essential for councillors and residents to review applications as early as possible to raise any concerns they may have and for councillors to work closely with officers and residents.
Andrew Frost, the council’s director of planning & environment, assured councillors that the lower tier councils would still have a say in the planning process, with the most ‘significant’ applications still going to the committee.
But Mr Briscoe was not convinced. He said: “It will affect the decision-making process, which ever way we look at it. It really isn’t a win for democracy. It stifles democracy and takes decision-making away from elected councillors.”
But despite their personal views, the council has no choice but to make the changes. If it fails to do so, it will find itself on the receiving end of legal action.
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