Planning Inspectorate rules the roost

An Opinion piece on the planning issues facing so many councils

On Monday, AudlemOnline ran an article about the Cheshire East Local Plan and the problems it was encountering with the Planning Inspectorate.

We said: "What does seem concerning in all this mess, is that planning now seems to be run by the Planning Inspectorate rather than the duly elected local authority, or are we misunderstanding what's going on?"

News has now reached us that another local authority has had its Local Plan thrown out by the Planning Inspectorate, East Staffordshire in this instance. And we understand that almost three quarters of appeals heard by the Planning Inspectorate are decided in favour of the developer.

Reading through the Planning Inspectorate's assessment of Cheshire East's Local Plan – published last Wednesday on AudlemOnline and again to today as a PDF – one wonders why the Inspectorate, which seems an all-knowing authority whose views on forecasts and assumptions are to be taken as gospel, doesn't take over all the country's planning decisions itself.

Why leave such important matters to locally elected councils when the civil servants at the Planning Inspectorate so clearly know all the answers. Those interested in history will recall that was the approach used in the Soviet Union with its all-reaching 5 Year Plans, created centrally and imposed locally.

And we all know how well they worked.

I jest, of course, but only in part, for if the Planning Inspectorate took over total responsibility, as they seem to be doing in any case, at least we might have a more straight-forward approach to planning and we would know exactly who to blame when it all went pear-shaped.

It seems as if the Planning Inspectorate favours 40,000 or so new houses in Cheshire East rather than the 27,000 the council's Local Plan thinks can be built.

Apart from the fact that 40,000 new homes seems to suggest a population increase locally of about 30% over the next 20 years – and where are all those people coming from? – over-supply of housing, and thus giving mortgages to unsuitable buyers to get rid of the excess homes, was precisely what led to the catastrophic crash of 2007 onwards, particularly in the USA, the so-called Sub-Prime Mortgage crisis.

Isn't the Planning Inspectorate forcing through precisely the same conditions at a time when we are being told at the G20 conference this very week that the world is heading again for stormy economic waters.

Reading through the Planning Inspectorates report on the Cheshire East Local Plan is a deeply depressing experience. It's full of comments such as: "...the forecasts use a series of questionable assumptions and figures."

Of course they do – when weren't forecasts and assumptions open to question. That is their very nature, just as the Planning Inspectorate's assumptions are equally open to question.

They acknowledge that Cheshire East has considered alternative levels of housing provision,both higher and lower than the proposed provision figure. Some indicate a need for 20,000 houses, some for 40,000 and Cheshire East finally opeds for 27,000.

Yet the Planning Inspectorate seems to want 40,000 – which must delight every house builder and speculative developer in the land, but few of the people who happen to live here.

If you want to know more about how anyone can pick holes in other's work, have a good read through the PDF file below the photo. One thing is for sure, after reading that, you wouldn't suggest your child becomes a local authority planner, not in the current climate where dictatorship from the centre seems to be the order of the day.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.