New clause 51 - Chief planning officer
Planning and Compulsory Purchase (Re-committed) Bill
10:15 am
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test, Labour)
I am not entirely sure whether the new clause exactly fits the Bill, but I support the important principle that planning authorities should recognise the status and role of planning officers. Substantial changes have occurred in recent years in how local authorities and planning authorities see their roles. They have removed the silos of professional status within local authorities.
A few years ago there used to be a chief planning officer, a valuer, a chief education officer, an officer with responsibility for social services, a chief legal officer and so on. Even in a district authority, there would be 13 or 14 chief officers sitting round the table with their different professional hats on. As the function of local authorities changed, those chief officers' roles were, quite rightly in my view, often subsumed in super-departments Officers in local authorities were grouped around the table as officers in charge of an area of concern rather than on the basis of their professional qualifications or backgrounds, which led to a great improvement in how they worked.
However, in that development, the sense that there were particular areas that needed a focus of concern within local authorities was lost. At the same time, local authorities changed from taking a reactive role to adopting a proactive role on many planning matters. That is particularly important because clause 38 enjoins planning authorities to concern themselves with sustainable development, which requires a proactive concern for the whole body of activity in a local authority rather than simply ticking off
particular planning applications as they come through. Indeed, the widely welcomed Government communities plan reflects the imperative for proactive planning on the part of local authorities across the country.
The movement towards more proactive planning is happening at the same time as the continuing reorganisation of arrangements for executive authorities—and, possibly, elected mayors—in local government. The role of chief officers has been further thrown into generality. Those two forces are moving in opposite directions.