A NUMBER of local councillors have said that the government's new overhaul of the planning system will see us wave goodbye to Cornwall’s rolling fields of green.

This week the government announced that there are plans for a ‘major overhaul’ of the country’s planning committees in an effort to ‘get Britain building’.

The new approach would see planning decisions set for a fast-track system.

Under new plans to ‘modernise’ the planning approval process, applications that comply with local development plans could bypass planning committees entirely to ‘tackle chronic uncertainty, unacceptable delays and unnecessary waste of time and resources’.

The measures would see a national scheme of delegation introduced, the creation of streamlined committees for strategic development and mandatory training for planning committee members.

Under the new plans, local planning officers will also have an enhanced decision-making role to implement agreed planning policy.

However, despite the government arguing that this will allow the country to meet its necessary building targets, a number of local councillors have said that this may open the floodgates to overdevelopment.

Cllr Leigh Frost, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cornwall Council and council member for Bodmin St Petroc said: “We desperately need more housing, but cutting communities out of the process is not the answer. Real progress comes from working with people, not against them. Just look at Milton Keynes; a new town developed by local councils with communities at its heart.

“Relying on a small handful of big housebuilders to solve the housing crisis is a recipe for failure. These companies will always drip-feed new homes into the market at a pace that keeps prices high, making housing less affordable for ordinary people.

“If we’re going to make any national targets mandatory, let it be the 150,000 social homes we need each year. But to make this work, we need proper Treasury investment in the infrastructure that supports new housing.

“Simply taxing private developments to fund infrastructure can only take us so far. That’s why our community driven policy puts people first; because it’s communities, not corporations, that deliver the best outcomes.”

Cornwall Councillor for Altarnun and Stoke Climsland, Adrian Parsons added: “It’s looking increasingly likely that the Labour government is going to steamroller through their drive to deliver 1.5-million new homes over the next five years. Key to their plan, is relaxing planning regulations even more. They will do this by reintroducing mandatory targets. For Cornwall, the housing target will be increased from 2,707 a year to 4500, putting incredible pressure on our local authority to deliver these numbers.

“The proposed changes will give our planning officers the power to rubber-stamp development proposals without permission from council committees, as long as they comply with locally agreed plans and national regulations on standards. This effectively takes away the chance to object to an application if it fulfils the government's planning criteria.

“One would assume that Cornwall Council will now have to formulate a new local development plan. Until this has been ratified and agreed, I would imagine the door will be thrown open for the possibility of inappropriate development! Inevitably, to reach these targets, swathes of green belt land will have to be built on, potentially riding roughshod over the views of local communities.

“It’s claimed that a fast-track planning process would apply to housing proposals and associated infrastructure such as schools if they had already been broadly agreed as part of local development plans where councils set out a strategy for land use in their areas. In these situations, planning committees will be completely bypassed.

“I have no doubt that in Cornwall we have a desperate need for affordable local housing, but I am not convinced this is the correct approach. As it is, we have lots of sites all around the Duchy with planning consent that, for various reasons, aren’t being delivered. If we aren’t careful, without a targeted approach, I’m afraid all we will see is inappropriate development with a complete lack of cohesion, while also failing to deliver the required infrastructure to support our ever-increasing population!”

However, despite backlash, Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner has defended the move.

She said: “Building more homes and infrastructure across the country means unblocking the clogged-up planning system that serves as a chokehold on growth. The government will deliver a sweeping overhaul of the creaking local planning committee system.

“Streamlining the approvals process by modernising local planning committees means tackling the chronic uncertainty and damaging delays that acts as a drag anchor on building the homes people desperately need.

“Through our Planning and Infrastructure Bill, alongside new National Planning Policy Framework and mandatory housing targets, we are taking decisive steps to accelerate building, get spades in the ground and deliver the change communities need.”