United campaign wins over ministers on Planning Bill amendment decision

Planning, 1 August 2008

The RTPI's campaign to stop the implementation of local member review boards (LMRBs) seems to have borne fruit.

The proposal in the Planning Bill would have meant that applicants for smaller schemes lost their right to an independent appeal where a decision was made under delegated powers. Instead, appeals were to be referred to a panel of local councillors. Many planners in the public and private sectors expressed considerable concern and called on their institute to oppose it.

When the bill was introduced last November, developing a strategy with any likelihood of success posed a challenge. The proposal seemed to have gained cross-party support, none would take briefings for amendments to the bill proposing the removal of the clauses and few public institutions or interest groups were concerned. The broad consensus was that the boards represented a beneficial and devolutionary step away from central control of planning outcomes.

The RTPI started work on a number of fronts. We assembled a loose grouping of like-minded professional institutions, business and interest groups, including RIBA, RICS and the CBI, who acknowledged the concerns and were prepared to support the RTPI campaign. We encouraged chartered members to take action themselves by writing to their local MPs.

These two steps drew our arguments to the attention of key civil servants and ministers. Our message was to consider the likely implementation costs and question whether the boards should be such a priority when government has a much higher-level reform agenda.

Finally, we pointed out that the legislation was potentially running out of time to complete its passage in the House of Lords and we would be prepared to mount a substantial campaign against a bill that we otherwise broadly supported to secure the amendments that we sought.

By early summer, this groundwork was starting to win converts. During the bill's Commons debate in June, housing minister Caroline Flint was the first to step away from the relevant LMRB clauses. "We have discussed the provisions extensively with local government and planning professionals. I have also received several representations about what is workable. We need to consider whether, given the large number of planning reforms that we are asking local planning authorities to implement, it is also right to ask them to focus on the initiative," she explained.

This position was reinforced in communities and local government secretary Hazel Blears's speech to the Planning Convention last month. Thanking the RTPI for its support, she pointed to the real debate on the detail such as the boards.

"Your arguments, along with those of other groups such as the Local Government Association, are very important as we consider whether these boards are the right way to achieve our objective of devolving more power to a local level or whether this is the right time to be putting them into practice. This is especially the case as the fast-track appeal service launched by the Planning Inspectorate is already giving householders quicker decisions," she said.

A few days later, planning minister Baroness Andrews's opening speech for the government at the second reading of the bill in the Lords made clear that an amendment will be introduced in the committee stage in October that will in effect remove the LMRB proposals.

"We have listened carefully to stakeholder views and concluded that while it may bring some benefit, it risks distracting local authorities at a time when there is an urgent need for them to focus on strategic plans and issues. We therefore intend to drop this provision at committee stage," she announced.

The RTPI's membership and policy team have spoken with a single voice and the government has taken the message on board. On the basis of this successful outcome, we have now suspended our LMRB campaign. Even at this stage, I think that it is important to thank you as members for your contribution to a decisive campaign and to thank ministers for listening and taking the right decision.

Rynd Smith is RTPI director of policy.