By Mark Smulian | 22 August 2013
Planning appeal hearings should be open to filming and reporting by bloggers and members of the public, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said.
He will publish guidance stating that planning appeal hearings can be filmed, tweeted and reported so long as no disruption results.
This would ‘open up a previously mysterious and rarely seen side of the planning process’, he said.
The Planning Inspectorate determines some 20,000 appeals a year, of which roughly 2,000 go to local hearings or inquiries.
Inspectors’ hearings are already public, but they will no longer be able to prevent filming or reports by digital or social media.
They will advise those present that proceedings may be recorded and/or filmed, and that anyone using social media should do so responsibly.
Pickles said: ‘I am opening up the planning appeals that my department oversees, so the public can see how the planning system works in practice. Councils should match this by opening up their planning meetings and other committees.
In June he published guidance to councils to open their meetings to filming and social media.
But Pickles said some had flouted this including Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council – which had said that filming a planning committee would compromise health and safety – and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which barred a 71 year old resident from filming due the risk of reputational damage to the authority.
