West Sussex County Council will make changes to its Constitution to stay in line with new planning laws – but many councillors made it clear they did not support those laws.

During a meeting of the full council on Friday (October 16), members discussed the National Scheme of Delegation of planning functions, which comes into force on October 31.

The government said the aim of the scheme was to ‘ensure greater clarity, consistency, and certainty’ about the role of planning committees in decision-making.

The changes will have more impact on the district and borough councils which deal with the vast majority of planning applications. But the county council, which largely deals with applications focussed on schools and minerals, still had to adjust its Constitution.

placeholder image — County Hall, Chichester

The government’s optimism that the system would be simplified was not shared by all, with questions being asked about the number of plans which would now be decided by officers compared to those which would still go to the planning committees.

Concerns were raised about the impact the changes would have on people’s ability to have their say on planning applications.

Paul Marshall (Con, Storrington) said: “Under this scheme, councillors lose an important means of ensuring that an application receives consideration by a planning committee.

“Members can still raise concerns, but raising a concern and having the power to secure public scrutiny are very different things.”

He told the meeting that his group would be opposing the change to the Constitution.

While those concerns were valid, the various councils had little choice but to approve the changes. Not doing so would be a failure to follow the law and likely see them on the receiving end of costly legal action.

Alex Jeffery (Lib Dem, Southwater & Nuthurst) did not agree with the changes to the planning system but described calls for the council to oppose them as ‘performative nonsense’.

He added: “The law of the land is not optional, regardless of what we think of it.

“It would be irresponsible of us as a council to not vote for this – regardless of what we think of it – and put taxpayer money at risk when it comes to decisions which this council will then make, which will leave it legally vulnerable to challenge.”

Roger Noel, who serves on the planning committee at Horsham District Council as well as the county council’s planning and rights of way committee, said there was ‘a suspicion’ that some applications had been ‘delayed’ until the new law came into effect, to allow them to be decided by officers rather than planning committees.

Council chair Donna Johnson, who is a member of the planning committee at Chichester District Council, had ‘some sympathy’ with Mr Noel’s views but added that they ‘could be considered to be slightly speculative’.