Reforms to the planning process open up Cherwell to more speculative development and increasingly unaffordable housing, say our local Labour councillors.

For 73 years, planning applications in England have been assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account local concerns and distinctions, with the planning committee formed by democratically elected, locally accountable councillors.

Housing and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick (fresh from reneging on his commitments to provide financial support to councils during the coronavirus pandemic) has unveiled new plans to do away with all that oversight.  His proposal will instead be classify land into into three zones, awarding planning permission without further scrutiny to proposals meeting certain criteria.

Hugh Ellis from the Town and Country Planning Association described the changes in blunt terms: “It’s about local democracy. When local people are walking down the street and come across a new development they didn’t know about, the answer will now be: ‘You should have been involved in the consultation eight years ago when the code was agreed.'”

Cherwell District Council Labour group leader Sean Woodcock strongly criticised the reforms, “These reforms […] amount to less local scrutiny of planning decisions and less money for social housing and community infrastructure. More freedom and more money to a handful of very large developers. Large areas in and around Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington are suddenly, potentially up for grabs.”

While the proposals may be seen as good news by wealthy development consortia, who will be able to drive though speculative development without any input from local residents or their elected representatives, the oversight process which Mr Jenrick dismisses as ‘red tape’ is responsible for ensuring developers delivers affordable homes, built to sustainable, safe design standards. The Royal Institute of British Architects president Alan Jones warned, “there’s every chance they could also lead to the development of the next generation of slum housing”.

It is also unclear as to how removing planning oversight will help the housing crisis when there are already around a million unbuilt permissions, according to the TPCA. In the light of Mr Jenrick’s past history with dodgy planning approvals, the talk of ‘red tape’ appears to be code for “I want my friends and benefactors to be able to do what they want without recourse.”