Call for re-think as Sunderland Reform hand over vital planning powers to unelected bureaucrats

Reform councillors in charge of Sunderland City Council have decided to remove powers over planning decisions from councillors and give them to unelected council staff instead.

At a meeting of Sunderland City Council yesterday (17 September) ruling Reform UK councillors voted to change the rules about how planning applications in the city are decided.

As a result, council staff now have a veto on whether or not controversial developments are debated and voted on in public or decided in private by staff.

It means decisions on things like converting family homes into Houses of Multiple Occupation may be decided behind closed doors and by unelected bureaucrats instead of in public at a planning committee where local people can have their say and where the final decision is made by elected councillors.

The changes agreed were optional and were not forced on the Council by the Government. They include giving council staff a veto over the councillor who chairs the Council’s planning committee, and removing the ability of councillors to attend the site of controversial developments in their area.

Opposition Lib Dem councillors opposed the changes and called for a re-think, but the new powers for council staff were approved because 24 Reform councillors voted to block a re-think, with 19 councillors in favour.

Speaking after the meeting Lib Dem councillor for Pallion & Ford Martin Haswell said:

“It is really disappointing that Reform voted to strip councillors and the public of their right to have their say on planning applications in their area.

“It means controversial decisions on plans for things like converting family homes into houses of multiple occupation, new build estates, solar farms or battery energy storage systems can be decided behind closed doors by council staff instead of in public and by elected councillors.

“I am not sure if this was done deliberately or because they hadn’t realised what council staff were trying to do. But whatever the reason, Reform UK bosses running Sunderland Council must urgently think again and restore the right for local people and local councillors to have a say over planning decisions in their communities.”