A lobby group representing England’s county councils has produced an alternative blueprint for the planning system in response to government proposals to remove county council planning powers.
The County Councils Network’s (CCN) proposals, which will be presented to the government, support many of the changes outlined in the government’s planning green paper, including regional strategies.
But government proposals to take planning powers away from the counties have been fiercely opposed by the group. The Network claims the move would cost £43m to implement, with ongoing running costs of £60m pa, and would erase over 2,000 years of collective planning experience.
John Sellgren, director of CCN, said: “None of the organisations that were consulted before the green paper was published asked for a major structural change. It certainly isn’t one of the CBI’s 10 points. Lord Falconer is proposing a solution that no one called for.
“He has made an irrational assumption that if you take counties out of the system it somehow makes it better. It’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater, structural change for the sake of it, and it causes us great concern.”
Sellgren added: “Our consultation has told us that one of the major concerns of business is that a radical, sweeping structural change will create a hiatus which could last for three to five years. Our proposals could be implemented immediately.”
Under the proposals counties would have the responsibility for drawing up Integrated Development Frameworks alongside district, unitary and metropolitan authorities, identifying areas for development and deciding county-level community strategies.
Sellgren said: “We are not simply defending the status quo. Our proposals will integrate planning with other public services, such as health and education, which are dealt with at a county level. We recognise that there is a lot to support in the green paper. But while the local government white paper focused on joining up public services, the planning green paper completely contradicts that
“The government’s changes will also cause a huge democratic deficit. How can people have a say if everything is done at a regional level? Falconer advocates that the system needs to be more accessible, but the green paper goes against that by distancing decisions from the people they affect.”
The CCN, which represents all 35 County Councils, says that its proposals would mean that only 50 subregional strategies would be needed, far fewer than the 250 proposed by the green paper.
EGi News 20/02/02
