West Berkshire Planning – Howard Woollaston explains public participation in COVID-19 times
11 May 2020
I am aware that there has been some comment about the changes to the process of Planning Applications in West Berkshire resulting from the Covid-19 outbreak.
Firstly let me say that West Berkshire Council has had the gold standard of allowing public participation in Planning Committees and significantly beyond our legal obligations. The Council has always tried to be as transparent as possible in Planning Matters and encourage public involvement. It was with the greatest reluctance that Members approved the limitations in order to meet our Public health requirements over Covid-19 and we will be returning to the previous system as soon as prudently possible.
We held an Emergency Council Meeting last week to ratify changes to the Public’s involvement in all Public Meetings including the Planning Committees . On strong legal advice from the Council’s Legal Team we agreed to limit public involvement in the process to written representations of 500 words (about the equivalent of a five minutes’ speech) from the Applicant, all Objectors, all Supporters and the Parish Council. Committees will be held using Zoom technology and be streamed to You Tube for the public to see in real time. District Councillors will still be able to have their five minutes summary using Zoom.
The reason behind this is slightly arcane and legalistic. Essentially any laptop owned and using the Council’s computer and network solutions is fully monitored and the IT team know immediately if there are any issues affecting connectivity. The same is not true for someone from outside the Council using their own equipment. In these circumstances a refusal could allow the applicant to claim that the meeting was legally inquorate allowing an ability to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate or potentially a Judicial Review. This could be hugely expensive to the Council and ultimately Council Tax Payers. All six Unitary Authorities in West Berkshire came to the same conclusion that they could not justify the risk. There were five abstentions on the motion but all other Councillors voted for the change albeit some reluctantly as the alternative was to delegate decision making to the Chief Executive which we all felt was undemocratic.
Most planning applications are dealt with by Officers of the Council under delegated powers. If there are more than ten written objections or the Ward Councillor calls it in then it goes to the relevant Planning Committee with an Officers recommendation. I sit on the Western Area Planning Committee which stretches from Lambourn and Hungerford to the A34 effectively including all Newbury Wards.
For those not familiar with the process when an application is passed to the Planning Committees it starts with a presentation by the allocated Planning Officer with input from other specialist Officers such as Highways, Environment etc. including a synopsis of representations from outside bodies such as AONB, Ramblers Association and similar organisations. The Applicant or more usually his/her advisor, all supporters, all objectors, the Parish Councillor and the Ward Councillor each have 5 minutes to speak and have questions asked of them by the Committee. The Committee then has the opportunity to question Officers after which there is a debate and a vote . Options are approval, usually with conditions, refusal or occasionally deferment where more information is required.
The only thing that is missing from the usual process therefore is the ability of Committee Members to ask questions of those submitting written representations rather than making 5 minute speeches with the exception of the Ward Councillor who is using Council equipment.
I understand that a very limited number of Councils are allowing external access by Zoom but we reluctantly took the view that it was too great a risk for a minor reduction in democracy offset by the ability for people to watch proceedings from the comfort of their own home.
I can only but repeat that this was not a decision taken lightly and that I seriously hope that we will be back to normal circumstances as soon as possible.
Kind Regards
Howard Woollaston
West Berkshire Conservative District Councillor for Lambourn Ward
Executive Portfolio Holder for Internal Governance
