Barnet Council Planning Department faces Government “special measures” for underperformance

July 26, 2013 office

Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden and Cllr Alison Moore, Leader of the Labour Group on Barnet Council have revealed that Barnet Council is one of just 6 councils facing “special measures” introduced under the Government’s controversial planning reforms.

Decisions will be taken directly by Whitehall planning inspectors, in a move which will reduce the opportunity for local people to have a say about major projects such as housing developments.

The unprecedented threat to Barnet of being stripped of their planning powers is made under reforms of the planning laws set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, which came into force last year. Barnet is underperforming against targets that it must deliver decisions on more than 30 per cent of applications within 13 weeks or have no more than 20 per cent of applications overturned at appeal.

Councils will be assessed by the Department of Communities and Local Government according to their performance between July 2011 and June 2013. However analysis of the latest statistics, which go up to March 2013, by the industry magazine Planning, reveal that Barnet is one of six falling below the benchmark. Unless their performance improved in April, May and June, they are set to be hit by the special measures in October.

If the planning department is placed into special measures, it could scupper elements of the DRS contract and at worst, cost the Council and Capita £1.3m per year – if planning applicants chose to bypass the council and apply directly to the Planning Inspectorate – which is instructed by the Secretary of State to approve proposals unless serious issues are expressed.

Mr Dismore said:

“Frankly, I am not at all surprised that Barnet is performing so badly. Their drive to privatise has led to demoralisation for staff in what is an under resourced department.

More importantly, this drives a coach and horses through their plans to flog off the planning department. If the decisions are now to be taken by the Planning Inspectorate, then they will also want the fees from planning applications. This will wreck any privatisation contract which will depend on planning this income.

More importantly, either way it is clear that local people will lose out, if decisions are being imposed either from the centre or from a contractor based miles away. How can local views and objections be taken into account? Barnet Council has failed yet again to respect and look after the interests of its residents”.

Cllr Alison Moore said:

The fact that Barnet’s planning department could be placed in special measures just weeks before they sign the DRS contract with Capita, subject to the outcome of the judicial review, shows just what a mess this Tory administration is in. They have allowed staff numbers in the planning department to run down so that they haven’t been able to do their job properly, with the result that they are under threat of being in special measures. The question is, did Capita know about this? If applicants go to the Planning Inspectorate rather than come to the council, Capita won’t be able to generate the revenue they predicted and will have to balance the books in other ways, possibly impacting on other critical services.