Cllr blasts confusion over planning law ‘revolution’
THE councillor in charge of planning in West Lancashire says he is unconvinced by Government claims that it will revolutionise the system which handles applications.
Housing Minister Robert Jenrick claimed that a shake up was needed to ‘cut red tape’ and shorten the time taken for housing developments to be approved.
He also claimed that the country’s “outdated and cumbersome” planning system had contributed to a generational divide between those who are homeowners and those who are not and said “permission in principle” would be granted to developments on designated land.
Those claims were dismissed by the Local Government Association, which said 90% of applications were approved and that more than a million homes had been granted permission in the last 10 years but not built.
Concerns were also raised over the living standards of homes which receive automatic permission and those fears have been echoed by Cllr Dave Evans, West Lancashire Borough Council’s portfolio holder for planning.
Cllr Evans was also sceptical of the timing of Mr Jenrick’s comments, which were released amid a scandal surrounding the arrest of a Conservative MP.
He said: “It still a bit confusing like everything with this Government.
“The white paper is due in September, parliament is stood down for recess and local Government is in summer holidays as well so it’s all unclear for now.
“It’s seem to be put as a distraction by Robert Jenrick
at a time when there was other things in the news.”
Cllr Evans was also unconvinced by previous Government suggestions that empty shops could more easily be reused as housing, something which prompted fears vacant units could be converted to student accommodation.
“I’m not convinced it will happen in Ormskirk. The worry will be if we’ve got an empty office block somewhere on an industrial site and a developer would want to turn that into flats.
“You end up with tiny flats with hardly any windows. We want better standards than that.
He added: “In Ormskirk, we have a Labour group policy that any application above the ground floor is suitable for student housing but we want to protect offices.
“Last week’s planning committee was the old
Royal Bank of Scotland building. A local company is converting upstairs into 30 flatlets, which are a bit better than bedsits. The downstairs is being kept for offices.”
The Burscough East representative stated a preference for purpose built student accommodation rather than the conversion of family homes and said the changing student profile at Edge Hill University, with more five-year medical students, could reduce demand for small HMOs in old terraced houses.
Evans, a former bus driver, took over the planning portfolio after the departure of Cllr John Hodson, who had been a driving force behind the doomed proposals for an extended 30-year Local Plan.
And the 71-year-old told the Advertiser that he is not be seeking a similar idea as the new Local Plan is being prepared.
“We got rid of the last local plan which would have made us look like Warrington or St Helens with tiny houses.
“Anyway, it’s a bit arrogant for people in their 60s to be planning that far ahead. I do think 15-year plans work best.”
Instead, Cllr Evans said one of his main priorities will be the quality of housing being approved, with a preference for new houses to be fitted with solar panels and heat pumps.