NALC warns planning reforms could weaken community protections

We have set out our position in response to the government's consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system, warning that some of the proposed changes risk weakening protections for communities if not handled carefully.

The consultation explores proposals to remove statutory consultee status from certain bodies, narrow the scope of advice they provide and introduce stronger performance management across the planning system. While we recognise the need for a more efficient and timely consultation process, we stress that reforms must not undermine local scrutiny or community confidence in planning decisions.

A key concern raised is the proposal to remove statutory consultee status from Sport England, the Gardens Trust and the Theatres Trust. We accept that these organisations' roles are most effectively delivered through the plan-making process. However, we caution that where there is no up-to-date local plan in place, the cultural, sporting and heritage facilities these bodies protect could be left vulnerable to opportunistic development applications.

We also called for a stronger and more formal role for parish and town councils within the planning system. We argued that national planning policy should be changed to make it mandatory for local planning authorities to engage with affected parish and town councils during formal pre-application discussions for major developments. We urged the government to strengthen local democracy by introducing a full statutory right for parish and town councils to be consulted, alongside a right of planning appeal.

We expressed reservations about proposed changes to the roles of key national bodies, including Historic England, the Environment Agency and Natural England. While acknowledging that the government has suggested mitigations, we are concerned that narrowing these organisations' focus could dilute their ability to address issues of importance to local communities. In particular, we warned against over-streamlining Historic England's role in conservation areas, arguing that the loss of specialist expertise could be regretted in the long term. We do not support proposals to increase the size threshold for developments in conservation areas from 1,000 square metres to 2,000 square metres.

Conversely, we support the proposed revisions to the statutory consultation arrangements for National Highways, Active Travel England and the Mining Remediation Authority, and note that there are no proposed changes to consultation with the Health and Safety Executive.

We repeatedly highlighted the importance of adequate resourcing, arguing that effective and timely consultation depends on well-resourced statutory bodies and local planning authorities, and that parish and town councils rely on this expertise to ensure robust scrutiny of planning applications. We pointed to the valuable role that communities, citizen science and parish and town councils play in identifying environmental issues, and call for training and support packages developed by bodies such as the Environment Agency to be made available to the parish and town council sector.

Finally, we raised concerns that, without statutory safeguards, parish and town councils could be consulted later, less consistently or less formally during processes such as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. To prevent this, we suggested embedding stronger statutory rights for parish and town councils and investing in building planning capacity, including supporting national initiatives to recruit and retain planning officers.