At the East Riding of Yorkshire Council meeting on the 22nd June 2022, Conservative Councillors voted to launch a campaign to inform residents on the planning process and how decisions are made, in the aim of equipping residents with all they need to, not just have their say on planning applications, but to influence planning decisions.
Wolds Weighton Ward Councillor, and Planning Committee Chairman, Cllr Leo Hammond proposed the motion for the campaign at the meeting, stating that ‘planning is one the services of this council which most directly impacts residents, and often with emotions running high, it is crucial that residents can influence planning decisions in their areas’.
Cllr Hammond went on to say ‘planning committees, are not free to make whatever decisions they want on applications, they have to make decisions based on planning policy, at the heart of which are material planning reasons’
‘For residents to be empowered to influence planning decisions, they must be informed on what is and what is not a material planning reason, that is a primary aim of this campaign’
Pocklington Provincial Ward Councillor, and Western Area Planning Committee Chairman, Cllr Paul West seconded the call for this campaign and said: ‘it’s only right that we do all we can to help residents have a meaningful say on planning applications, and that is the aim of this campaign, which I fully support’.
Liberal Democrat Councillors tried to move an amendment to the motion, asking for the reinstatement of Neighbour notification letters, however, this was blocked by the Conservatives.
Cllr Hammond responded to the Liberal Democrats by highlighting the great burden on the taxpayer these letters would have, costing in excess of £50,000 a year when they were last used in 2016, and the counter productive impact they would have on the council trying to lower its carbon footprint, by increasing the councils paper usage by thousands of sheets a month as the council receives on average 300 to 500 applications a month.
Cllr Hammond also stated that a review held in 2017 of if the letters were needed or not concluded that they did not increase the number of residents commenting on planning applications, as the figures for 2017 had been similar to the year previous when they were used.
Cllr Hammond concluded by saying: ‘responsible Governance means making decisions based off of evidence and data, and the data shows that these letters would cost the taxpayer, but be of no benefit to them, so it would be wrong to bring them back. The point of this campaign is not to make residents comment on applications, they already do that, it’s to help them understand the system so that they can have a meaningful impact on planning decisions’.
Cllr Paul West has since said: ‘ the Lib Dems are living in the past, we are moving forward for the good of the environment and residents, and developing new ways of keeping residents informed about planning applications in our area, such as the current email bulletin system residents can sign up for, and we are developing a new part of our council app, so that residents can get all the information they need in their phones’.
The Conservatives accused the Lib Dems of playing political games with residents money and the environment rather than doing what is right for local people. During the meeting Cllr Hammond stated he was ‘shocked’ to hear the Liberal Democrats, Independents and Yorkshire Party all state that £50,000 is not a lot of money. Cllr Hammond stated ‘£50,000 is a lot of money to our residents, me included, and I think during a cost of living crisis, adult social care crisis and staff retainment crisis which will impact on how we provide frontline services, we should not be spending money on a scheme which has no evidence to support that it is beneficial to residents’.
