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MP calls on Council’s administration to “get a grip” of planning appeals
04/10/2024
Sean Woodcock has accused Cherwell District Council of being “wholly irresponsible” with taxpayers money
Banbury’s MP say’s Cherwell District Council’s administration needs to “get a grip” of what he describes as the utter, and expensive, chaos surrounding planning appeals.
Planning applicants can use the appeals process when they aren’t happy with a decision made to reject an application by locally elected councillors on the Planning Committee.
So far this year the Planning Inspector has overturned 57 percent of the decisions in the 35 appeals which have been heard – that’s the highest level in five years.
An Appeals Progress Report, which was considered by the Planning Committee last night, notes that £313,000 has been spent on defending appeals so far this year – three times the £100,000 budgeted for the whole year.
Sean Woodcock has accused Cherwell District Council of being “wholly irresponsible” with taxpayers money when it comes to Planning decisions.
He said: “This report lays bare the scale of the waste of taxpayers money by Cherwell District Council in failing to properly deal with planning applications.
“To get decisions overturned in 2/3 of cases where a decision to reject has been made by committee instead of officers, suggests that leading councillors are more concerned with pointless grandstanding than with protection of the public purse.
“Meanwhile the developments that these councillors oppose end up getting built anyway; with developers able spend less on infrastructure and affordable housing than their original proposal in order to make up for the cost of the appeal. This is a shambolic approach to making decisions that is leaving residents worse off and the council out of pocket. All at a time when the administration is talking of cutting services.
“It’s wholly irresponsible and the leadership of this minority administration really needs to get a grip of what appears to be utter, and expensive, chaos.”
But Councillor Jean Conway, Cherwell District Council’s Portfolio Holder for Planning and Development Management, has defended the council’s position and says the figures should be viewed in the context of the large number of planning applications that are dealt with successfully.
She said: “Cherwell’s planning committee consistently makes high-quality decisions, reflected in the very low proportion of refusals later overturned on appeal.
“While the Appeals Report provides insight into the appeals process, it is essential to see these figures in the context of the large number of applications our committee successfully manages.
“Over the past five years, only 32 out of 343 applications determined have been appealed, which is fewer than 10 per cent and well within expected norms.
“When decisions do go to appeal, we closely monitor them, challenge them as required, and draw any lessons learned to further benefit our decision-making.
“Moreover, our performance exceeds national standards in terms of the speed and quality of our decisions. We are proud to have surpassed these targets over the past five years, showing our commitment to delivering timely and sound planning outcomes for the community.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam