Romford Town Conservatives

Councils may lose planning rights Councils could lose their power over planning applications if they hold up new housing developments. The Communities Secretary Eric Pickles warned that he would not hesitate to strip individual local authorities of responsibility for planning if MPs thought they were unduly in slow in approving developments or making the wrong decisions. Applications would then be handled by the Planning Inspectorate. The move comes as part of Government push to make it harder for residents to object to new developments. Councils will also be encouraged to allow building on green belt land. Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of the Local Government Association, countered that the block to construction projects was not planning red tape but the economy’s weakness. The LGA said it had granted planning permission for 400,000 projects, but developers and householders had not pressed ahead with them. Housebuilders said a lack of demand, amid a shortage of affordable mortgages, was the real blockage. The Planning Officers’ Society said that removing the mediating role of councils over planning issues could create more neighbourhood rows. Elsewhere, the Times carries a feature for readers on how to get their plans approved by council planning departments and Simon Jenkins, in the Guardian, writes that it is not the fault of the countryside that planning applications are refused.   Source: Financial Times, Page: 3    The Times, Page 16-17   The Times, Page: 10-11  The Daily Telegraph, Page: 10, 27   The Guardian, Page: 8, 32   The Independent, Page: 5   Independent I, Page: 7   Daily Mail, Page: 8   Evening Standard London, Page: 14   Daily Mirror, Page: 14