Alex Grant

What goes on at Town hall planning committees these days? In theory it works like this. A committee of about a dozen councillors, politically balanced to match the composition of the council as a whole, assesses planning applications based on recommendations from professional officers about what to refuse and what to allow. Councillors hear the evidence, listen to objectors and the applicant, and then decide. They must base their decision on “planning grounds” only – in other words whether the proposed development conforms with local and national planning policies in terms of its size, scale, design and environmental impact.

Ideally, councillors who sit on planning committees will have received some training in planning law, design, and the right way to handle the public and each other. Most of them  – possibly all – will be backbench councillors, who will leave their party colours, tribal loyalties and manifesto pledges at the door. Even when a large application could benefit the council financially –  either through planning gain (money from the developer, given to the council to provide services to new residents and mitigate the impact of what they’re building) or through the disposal of valuable council land – financial considerations, the identity of the applicant, or whipping (parties telling councillors how to vote) should play no part.

In most authorities the process works well. The Town and Country Planning Act of 1949 is one of the most under-rated achievements of the post-war Labour government and has been used as a template as countries around the world have set up their own planning systems. Planning decisions in Britain are “quasi-judicial” – rooted in decades of case law – and are remarkably free of the graft and corruption apparent in many southern European countries. This is partly because the British have always ostracised those who commit bribery: the reputational risks to politicians, and developers, are simply too high. But another reason is that in many councils – though not all – corruption and bribery are not necessary. Politicians often bend over backwards to appease large-scale developers in the interests of nebulous “regeneration”, investment and jobs, or even just out of vanity.