25 May 2007
Town hall leaders this week gave a cautious welcome to the government's controversial plan to refer national infrastructure planning decisions to an independent commission.
But green campaigners attacked the proposal, which was in the planning white paper launched on May 21. They warned that it would pay only lip service to the notion of community engagement and predicted that it would fast-track environmentally damaging developments such as new airports and road-widening schemes.
'You won't be able to object to a new nuclear power plant in your community, but you may be consulted on what colour gate it has,' said Hugh Ellis, Friends of the Earth's planning co-ordinator.
But the Local Government Association struck a more conciliatory note, acknowledging that it made sense for projects of national importance to be considered at a central, rather than a local, level.
Martin Wheatley, the LGA's environment programme director, told Public Finance that ministers had listened to councils' concerns. 'In particular, they are giving councils a very clear, entrenched and distinct role in working with the developer on scheme development, which is a critical phase,' he said.
But Wheatley warned that the commission's decisions would not be credible unless local government influence was built into all aspects of its work. 'Certainly local government is an absolutely critical element in the make-up of the body of people who are going to make the decisions if they're going to be credible,' he said.
Others, however, said the commission plan smacked of political buck-passing. Henry Oliver, head of regeneration and localism at the New Economics Foundation think-tank, said: 'These are highly political decisions and represent choices about the future of our society and whether we want to be an environmentally sustainable society or a socially inclusive society or not.
'For politicians to suggest that somehow that decision can be made by giving it to an independent bunch of people who can be terribly objective is unrealistic, dishonest and probably a bit cowardly.'
The Conservative group on London Councils was equally outspoken, claiming the proposals would gag local communities.
Launching the white paper, Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly said the commission would listen closely to local concerns.
'Where the commission approves an application it will be able to specify measures to mitigate the impact on a local area. It will be accountable to ministers and Parliament for its performance. We believe it will bring greater objectivity, transparency and accountability to the decision-making process,' she said.
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