New clause 51 - Chief planning officer
Planning and Compulsory Purchase (Re-committed) Bill
10:15 am
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The proactive planning process involves more than making various connections in the local authority planning process that may not have been made previously. Connections must also be made with a variety of stakeholders in the planning process, who are outside the authority, within the community. That was not the common sense of planning in years gone by.
Planning now plays a number of roles in local government and planning authorities, although there is also a decreased focus on that activity. That is the reason why the principle of recognising the role of chief planning officer—whether or not that person goes by that exact title—is important. As the hon. Member for Cotswold has pointed out, there is such recognition in a number of other areas, where specific posts form the statutory basis on which other officers work.
I ask my right hon. Friend the Minister to consider accepting the new clause, and to take on board the notion that this recognition of status in local authorities is increasingly important, especially given the admirable changes to the planning process made by the Bill and the rolling changes that he has just explained to the Committee. If he does so, that will underline the importance of planning officers in that process and in the wider process of ensuring that planning becomes part of the fabric of local authorities, not the part of the silo, as it was for some people in years past.