A BUCKINGHAMSHIRE councillor has slammed the new council’s constitution as ‘closeted, clumsy and undemocratic’.
This comes after concerns were raised parish and town councils will not be able to stop controversial planning applications at Buckinghamshire Council meetings.
Instead of parish councils being able to represent themselves at Buckinghamshire Council meetings, the new council’s constitution, which sets out the rules for how the authority should work, indicates parish councils will have to ask Buckinghamshire Council councillors to ‘call-in’ their objections to planning proposals.
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This has sparked fears from one councillor who worries this could mean parish and town councils’ views are ignored.
Cllr Robin Stuchbury, Labour representative for Buckingham West, told the Bucks Free Press: “To deny parishes this opportunity seems to be very undemocratic.
“It’s autocratic and will produce nothing of good worth between the parishes and the local authority.
“I don’t think it’s been very well thought-out.
“This is a case of master and servant. This is not the way a local authority should be started. It’s closeted, it’s clumsy and it’s undemocratic.”
Cllr Stuchbury told BFP he was concerned the constitutional changes would make it more difficult for parish councils to defend their neighbourhood plans.
He also suggested local members who call in a planning application will not be able to give their views on the proposal because this would mean their views were pre-determined — something developers could use to their advantage in an appeal scenario.
He added: “That very local member, who may be sympathetic to the concerns of the parishes, may not get to speak.”
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But Conservative councillor Warren Whyte, Buckinghamshire Council’s planning boss, said the new constitution’s call-in process is “identical” to how this worked at four of the former authorities which now make up the new council.
He added: “The constitution for the new council allows for planning applications to be called into committee by all 197 unitary councillors.
“It is perfectly acceptable for a committee member to call in an application without predetermining their position.
“The act of calling in an application is simply asking for councillor scrutiny rather than setting out a position on an application.”
Cllr Stuchbury raised further issues with the constitution, arguing parish councils were not consulted about it and that there was limited scrutiny of it by councillors before it was passed.
He said: “My suggestion would be they very soon tidy the constitution up so it is amended to what it used to be.”
But Cllr Whyte hit back saying the changes to the constitution were made as part of the preparations for the new council during the ‘shadow period’, which took place before April 1, 2020.
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He continued: “Parish Councils were engaged in that process, including a workshop for parish councils on 5th December 2019 and revisions to the planning process featured regularly in the Parish & Town Council newsletter.
“Disappointingly, due to the pandemic, we were forced to cancel a second training session for parish and town councils planned for March.
“The presentation prepared for that event has been circulated and we will be rescheduling the event as soon as the current restrictions have been lifted.
“There was also considerable consultation across members on different aspects of the constitution as it developed, including through a cross-party constitution working group and a planning working group.
“The final constitution was agreed at a meeting of the Shadow Executive on 18 February and the Shadow Authority, which includes all councillors, on 27 February.
“In approving the constitution members recognised that it was a ‘living document’ and agreed a recommendation that its operation be reviewed in April 2021.”
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