Two Greater Manchester planning departments will be acting unlawfully in less than two weeks after rejecting government changes to the way planning applications are approved and denied.
Councillors in both Tameside and Bolton voted not to accept new measures to implement legally binding changes, which means as things stand, from November 1 their planning committees will not be legally compliant and councillors will have no say on planning matters.
After that date, if nothing changes, officers will make all planning decisions in the two boroughs, it is understood. However, as the situation is unprecedented the true ramifications of not accepting the new reforms is unknown.
New Two-Tier System and Committee Changes
At recent full council meetings, councillors in Tameside and Bolton were told of the statutory introduction of the national scheme of delegation of planning functions will come into law on October 31, which alters arrangements for determining planning applications across England.
Under the new rules planning applications would be split into two tiers – Schedule 1 applications and Schedule 2 applications, designated by planning officers. Schedule 1 includes smaller and more technical applications that would only be dealt with by planning officers.
Schedule 2 covers larger applications, which may be brought before the planning committee, if agreed by the planning committee chair and the council’s chief planning officer. Examples would be an attic conversion on a semi-detached house in Schedule 1 and a skyscraper with 1,250 homes in Schedule 2.
The changes would also reduce the size of planning committees to a maximum of 13 and require all members to undergo a formal training process.
Tameside's Rejection and Legal Concerns
These planning reforms were called 'egregious' by the Tameside leader of Reform Allan Hopwood. Speaking in Dukinfield Town Hall on October 6, he claimed the chamber was being asked to vote with a 'gun to the head'.
Coun Hopwood and his council colleagues from the Conservatives and Tameside Independent Group all shared their frustration with the changes. Their objections felt these reforms took away the voices of local residents on planning matters.
The Labour group, who run a minority administration at Tameside council, admitted they didn’t agree with all of the changes. But they felt that not changing their constitution to adopt the reforms would be an error and cost the council money in the future.
Deputy council leader Coun Andrew McLaren explained that any planning decisions after October 31 would be open to legal challenge, costing the council 'thousands, thousands and thousands of pounds'.
Coun McLaren told the council chamber on October 6 they had a responsibility as a council to remain within the law, despite their feelings towards the changes.
Only the Labour group voted in favour of the changes, but they lost by a narrow margin. It is likely that an extraordinary meeting of the council will take place before October 31 to re-consider the matter, the council was told.
A Tameside council spokesperson said: “The council is considering the implications of full council's decision and any appropriate next steps.
“In the meantime, planning applications will continue to be processed and determined in accordance with the council's existing constitutional arrangements, until the government's new planning legislation comes into force on October 31.
“The scheduled meeting of planning on October 14, therefore proceeded as normal.”
Bolton's Vote and Wider Impact
It was a similar story when Bolton council rejected the new rules earlier this month.
Introducing the motion, Labour’s Coun Nadeem Ayub acknowledged that 'members had strong feelings on the issues' and conceded that the changes would 'erode local democracy'.
Previously councillors in the borough could 'call-in' decisions, meaning they were decided by the planning committee. Other schemes would be considered by committee because a set number of objections had been reached.
Under the new legislation developments of less than nine homes and small commercial schemes will in future be decided by officers.
Coun David Grant spoke against accepting the new legislation.
He said: “This strips local people of their rights and voice over deciding what happens within their communities. Local people should shape their town and villages, not somebody from Westminster.
“I did not get elected to remove those rights.
“We must send a message to government that this is wrong.”
Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors were outvoted on the motion, with the Conservative, Reform UK and Green groups voting against.
Following the motion's failure, spokesperson for Bolton council said: "Other councils across the UK are in a similar position ahead of the government changes to the national scheme of delegation.
"Bolton Council is working with members to resolve this matter as soon as possible. Every effort will be made to keep disruption to planning applications to a minimum."
The Local Democracy Reporting Service/Manchester Evening News understands that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's (MHCLG) position is that after October 31, local planning authorities must determine all planning applications in accordance with the new rules.
If their constitutions have not been updated, as is presently the situation in Tameside and Bolton, their planning committees would be operating outside these rules and all decisions will be made by planning officers by default.
Where local planning authorities do not comply with the regulations, decisions may be subject to judicial review which may lead to the quashing of decisions.
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, councillors in Manchester, Salford, Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Trafford and Stockport have agreed to amend their planning processes to comply with the legislation.
Wigan council is set to vote on the matter at the next full council meeting in November, which will be before any planning committee meeting takes place after the legislation takes effect.
