Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Berwick, has called on Town and Parish Councils to unite against Labour's proposed changes to Northumberland County Council's planning system.
Following a recent review of Northumberland County Council’s planning service conducted by Deloitte, proposals were announced by Councillor Allan Hepple, policy board member for planning, housing and economic growth changes, which include abolishing the current geographically based planning committees, reducing the number of planning applications that need to be determined by planning committee, and taking steps to increase the number of planning appeals won by the council.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan has now said that she will be contacting Town and Parish Councils in the Berwick constituency and will be urging them to oppose these measures and make their feelings known during the consultation process. Anne-Marie Trevelyan said; "Northumberland County Council has one of the worst performing planning services in the Country. It is somewhat perverse that they are now using this as some kind of justification for increasing the power of officers to nod through important planning decisions under delegated authority. At the same time they are seeking to extinguish the power of town and parish councils to object to applications and ensure that they are decided upon, and considered fully, by democratically elected local representatives".
Anne-Marie Trevelyan added: “This is further proof that the Labour administration are granting developers a ‘free for all’, reducing public participation and are not willing to face the public or communicate openly.”