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We have slated plans by the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) to strip powers from the Gardens Trust and Sport England, which are statutory consultees in the planning process. We say this poses a threat to vital green spaces throughout England.
1960s concreted public spaces like Armada Way, Plymouth, remove access to nature. MHCLG’s proposals risk creating more concrete deserts. Photo: Credit © Copyright N Chadwick and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
We were responding to MHCLG’s consultation on Reforms to the Statutory Consultee System.
There are currently 27 bodies which are statutory consultees for planning applications, and MHCLG picks on three of them for removal of this status: the Gardens Trust, Sport England, and the Theatres Trust, but does not mention others.
Says Helen Monger, one of our case officers: ‘The arbitrary reduction of statutory consultees is short-sighted and will not achieve MHCLG’s objective of streamlining planning. Instead, it risks losing vital green space including playing fields, gardens, and other cherished landscapes which once built on are lost for ever.
‘Without expert advice, local authorities are likely to face even more lengthy legal challenges on controversial projects, having made ill-informed decisions.
‘The consultation shows that the three organisations targeted respond to only a tiny proportion of all the housing applications seen across the country and object to still fewer. So why pick on them?’ she asks.
‘We urge MHCLG to rethink this and retain these excellent advisors as statutory consultees.’