Cllr Sam Smith has led a successful move to amend Nottinghamshire County Council’s response to a controversial government consultation that could see key planning decisions taken out of local hands.
Speaking during Item 9 at the Planning and Rights of Way Committee meeting at Oak House, Smith warned against Labour’s proposed reforms. He said that would allow central government to impose a ‘one-size-fits-all’ system for how planning applications are decided – stripping local councillors and communities of the ability to scrutinise major developments.
“These proposals, driven by Angela Rayner’s top-down housing agenda, would take decision-making power away from local people and hand it to unelected officials,” he said.
“If we let Tier A applications go through without oversight, we’re walking into a future of overdevelopment, increased flooding, and infrastructure chaos – with no way to challenge it.
“The consultation proposes a national delegation scheme that forces planning authorities to categorise applications into Tier A or Tier B. Tier A applications – including those with major local impact – would be automatically decided by officers, with no opportunity for councillors to intervene.
“I objected strongly to the County Council’s draft response, which originally agreed with the government that no mechanism should exist for councillors to bring Tier A applications to committee.
Cllr Smith called for the response to be amended to reflect strong opposition to this aspect of the consultation, arguing that elected councillors must retain the right to consider all major applications in the interests of their residents.
“If this goes ahead unchallenged,” he said, “we’ll be the ones held accountable when new schools are built with no proper parking, mineral extraction sites pop up next to homes, or flood-prone developments get waved through.”
His amendment was backed by the committee and the Council’s response will now be changed before being sent back to government ahead of the July 23 deadline.
“This isn’t about bureaucracy – it’s about protecting the voice of our communities,
“The Conservative Group will always stand up against attempts to silence local people and centralise power in Whitehall. Today was a clear message – we won’t be sidelined.”
“The revised response now calls for a mechanism that allows councillors to review all major applications, even those classed as Tier A, in exceptional circumstances – restoring the voice of local democracy in the planning process.
Cllr Smith concluded: “We now call upon Angela Rayner and the Labour Government to listen to this and change their direction.”
