Council ‘disappointed’ by loss of planning control: political reaction to news
16/06/2026
The political group leaders of the largest groups have shared their views on the situation with Banbury FM
Cherwell District Council is ‘disappointed’ following yesterday’s news that it has been designated by government for the quality of decision-making on major planning applications.
Following the move those seeking planning permission for major applications can bypass local decision making and go directly to the government appointed Planning Inspectorate.
Major developments include sites with 10 or more homes or covering in excess of 0.5 hectares, where the floor space is 1,000 square metres or more, or where the development site has an area of 1 hectare or more.
The government decision was based on performance data from planning appeals for major developments for the period April 2023 to March 2025. Just over 11 percent of those were overturned at appeal for that period – just above the government’s threshold of 10 percent.
Since last March the council has been working with the Planning Advisory Service to improve its performance and believes this will be under the 10 percent threshold at the end of the current monitoring period.
Councillor Lesley McLean is the Liberal Democrat Leader of Cherwell District Council. She said: “This decision is disappointing and, frankly, frustrating. The government appears more interested in judging Cherwell’s past performance than recognising the progress being made today.
“Cherwell is a high-growth district that has a strong track record of delivering new homes, supporting investment and creating opportunities for local people. That is why it is so frustrating to see progress being set aside in favour of historic performance figures for 2023 to 2025.
“Residents expect major decisions affecting their communities to be shaped by local knowledge and local accountability. This designation creates a route for those decisions to be made by the Planning Inspectorate, outside the local democratic process. Elected councillors, supported by knowledgeable and professional officers, are the right people to guide new development in north Oxfordshire.”
But both Labour and Conservative Councillors at Cherwell blame the Liberal Democrat administration for the situation.
Labour group leader, Councillor Rebecca Biegel, said: “The shambolic leadership and inadequate planning steer shown by the LibDem led administration has finally led to Cherwell District Council being designated and losing its power to decide major planning applications.
“This is a disappointing outcome coming on top of previously published, eye-watering appeal costs to the council.
“Labour has repeatedly called for better quality planning from this administration including expediting the local plan and full recognition of the housing and climate crises which impact our hard working residents.”
Conservative group leader Councillor Eddie Reeves is calling on the administration to work cross-party to address the situation. He said: “LibDem fantasy has finally collided with reality.
“The LibDems have made promises they couldn’t keep in successive local elections. Having squeezed into power a few years ago, they were first clueless about what to do on planning and they have now been left powerless by the government.
“In one breath, the Council appears to offer no defence to a major planning appeal before vigorously contesting another. There is no consistency at all in the Council’s approach and, for once, I see little reason to reproach Whitehall for having applied what is effectively an emergency brake on poor local governance.
“The LibDems will, doubtless, play the victim here and sell this as a bizarre win for their feel-good brand of local populism. At best, it is a Pyrrhic victory for the LibDems. At worst, it is an epic mess of their own making. In either case, large-scale developments can now be green-lit without proper local oversight. Everyone who cares about the rural fabric of our district should be concerned about that.
“I sincerely hope that the LibDems will now do the decent thing and call in political leaders of all groups – Conservative, Labour, Green and Reform alike – to work up a genuinely cross-party approach as to how best we drag ourselves out of the mire and back towards some semblance of normality.”
Meanwhile Reform UK’s group leader believes the government have seen an opportunity and grabbed it. Councillor Paul Jeffreys said: “This government wants to flood the country with houses without the infrastructure in place, we need roads that are safe to drive on, a water supply that doesn’t leak and sewage systems that work and do not contaminate our local rivers.
“Our communities should be worried about this, as tens of thousands of homes are planned to be built in our area. The question not being answered by this Labour government is, who is going to live in these new houses? Locals? I think not. This government can’t control immigration and think they can bulldoze our green spaces to make up for it. Where are these thousands of people going to go to school, where are their doctors, dentists, and other health care professionals.
“The other question is where are they going to work? Are there jobs in the areas where they are building or is it going to be another soulless commuter housing estate, thus putting more strain on our crumbling road infrastructure.
“The planning development decisions need to be made for local people by the people they voted for and not a national government agenda because labour have lost control and want to blame district councils for the current housing crisis, or better worded mismanagement.”
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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