Kirklees shakes up planning decision structure

Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire has reduced the number of planning committees it will hold, as part of an ongoing effort to simplify and speed up the planning process. Instead of three separate planning committees, the council will hold two: a strategic planning committee, focusing on major planning applications; and a district-wide planning committee, focusing on minor and other applications, namely household-related. The council said applications will only be decided at one of those committees if they reflect a big departure from the Kirklees Local Plan, if public opinion is strongly against the planning officer’s recommendation, or if the planning application has been referred by a ward councillor. Each committee will meet in Huddersfield Town Hall once every six weeks. The decision comes after the council changed its scheme of delegation around planning applications, meaning that more decisions can be made outside of committees. The moves form part of the council’s efforts to make its decision-making process more efficient. It estimates the changes will result in cost savings of around £100,000 each year. Kirklees Council said the changes should also encourage more developers to consider sites within Kirklees for development, while still making sure local communities play a big part in the planning process. The strategy supports an update to the Local Plan, approved by Kirklees’ Full Council in November last year. Graham Turner, council cabinet member for finance and regeneration, said: “We have big plans for regeneration across Kirklees over the coming years. To deliver this regeneration, we want to encourage new planning applications – without sacrificing quality or public engagement. “We want to further improve our reputation as a good place to build and as a good local authority to partner with on development, and we want to speed up and streamline the whole process for local people too. Crucially, these more streamlined committees will still allow local communities to get involved with the planning process when an application matters to them.” Photo by Sven Mieke/Unsplash