The Planning and Infrastructure Bill could have been an opportunity to empower communities, speed up sustainable development, and unlock infrastructure delivery. Instead, the government has chosen a path that centralises power in Whitehall, undermines local decision-making, and erodes trust in the planning system.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Clause 46, which would allow ministers to impose a national scheme of delegation, stripping elected councillors of their role in deciding planning applications. In doing so, it introduces a sweeping ministerial power that amounts to a dangerous democratic deficit.
Liberal Democrats stand firmly against this kind of centralising power grab. We believe planning decisions should be made by local people, with local knowledge, for the benefit of local communities. Clause 46 does the opposite – delegating decisions away from elected councillors and allowing the Secretary of State to override local planning committees, rewrite council constitutions, and reduce the size of planning committees by ministerial decree. This is yet another “Henry VIII clause” – giving central government the power to silence local voices at the stroke of a pen.
As Deputy Chair of the Local Infrastructure and Net Zero Board, I’ve written a detailed briefing for our parliamentarians to ensure that the voice of Liberal Democrat councillors and councils is heard loud and clear during this Bill’s passage. I’m proud that Gideon Amos MP, the Liberal Democrats’ Spokesperson for Housing and Planning, and Olly Glover MP are leading the charge in the Bill Committee with clarity and purpose.
As Gideon said:
We want to see a Bill about communities leading in planning and development. Instead, the Bill is part of a growing trend that is taking powers away from local communities… Taking decisions out of councillors’ hands is taking decisions out of the hands of local people… removing people and their councillors from the system does not mean faster planning, but less democratic planning.
He’s absolutely right. The evidence is clear: councils approve more than 85% of planning applications – some studies say it’s closer to 90%. Councillors are not blocking development; they’re facilitating it. And they’re doing so with community consent and local insight – the very things that make planning sustainable and defensible.
Without that democratic legitimacy, we risk more legal challenges, less public support, and worse outcomes. As Gideon said, “The Bill risks making development not only slower, but worse.”
Instead of a Bill that shuts people out and silences local voices, we need a vision inspired by the best of British planning that balance homes, nature and infrastructure.
That’s the approach Liberal Democrats are championing:
– A planning-led system, not a developer-led one
– Infrastructure first – GPs, schools, parks, dentists and public transport, not just houses
– Transition support for councils to meet housing targets
– Net zero standards for homes, introduced as soon as possible
– And crucially, decisions made close to the people they affect
If you’re a councillor – speak out.
If you’re a party member – contact your MP.
If you’re an MP – back Gideon Amos in resisting Clause 46.
And if you care about democracy, community, and sustainable development – join us in standing up for local decision-making.
We don’t just need to build more homes – we need to build better places. And we can only do that by working with people, not against them.
* Cllr Victor Chamberlain is a Liberal Democrat member of the Local Infrastructure and Net Zero Board at the LGA and is the Leader of the Opposition on Southwark Council.
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3 Comments
Thank you Victor for alerting us to yet another mistake this government is making. We are already the most centrally governed country in Europe apart from Belarus. Sam Freedman (former senior civil servant in the DfE) in his book “Failed State” makes this one of the key reasons for our bad government over many years and it was already getting worse. He says that national government cannot cope with all the detailed decisions they are making and hence doing it extremely badly.
One reason for slow planning decisions is lack of local staff and in my experience as a councillor I noticed the slowness and power of the developers, though another reason was the inadequacy of the system for providing a workable local plan that could take residents’ concerns into account.
I disagree.
Decades of experience have shown that when you leave the final authority on planning with local communities, not enough gets built. The Government is right to take more power to itself; my only concern is that it has not gone far enough.
It should impose zoning rules which make developments that fall within specified criteria automatically approved.
@Mohammed Amin
“It should impose zoning rules which make developments that fall within specified criteria automatically approved.”
What criteria do you have in mind? I ask because in local communities are likely to know very much more about their community than a central planning organisation could ever know.
And if the locals claim building in a particular area is inappopriate they may have good reasons for doing so – such as flood risk, lack of public services (and maybe difficulty in providing such services).
Do you just want housing estates built anywhere, irrespecitve of their impact?