Updated 26 June 2008

Introduction

The RTPI's Local Member Review Body campaign in respect of the Planning Bill proposals has been suspended following a Ministerial contribution to the Planning Bill debate in the House of Commons on 25 June, supported by advice from CLG that the government is now giving most serious attention to the concerns raised by campaign participants.

It follows that the RTPI is no longer asking members to take direct action to support the campaign.  However, campaign actions and background materials will be retained here until it is clear that the necessary amendments have been introduced in the House of Lords.

The draft Heritage Protection Bill also includes a Local Member Review body proposal.  The RTPI is not actively campaigning against this proposal at present, taking the view that it should first discuss the rationale for it with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in the light of the likely direction of travel of the Planning Bill.  It may be that government will now be willing to remove this proposal before legislation is introduced in 2008-09.

Campaign Materials

• What can I do?
• What effect will my action have
• What else has the RTPI done?
• Future action
• Alternatives to LMRB

What Can I Do?
Take Action!

The RTPI asked individual Chartered Town Planners to write to their constituency MPs throughout the progress of the Bill in the Commons, which are now complete.

A draft letter to constituency MPs was provided for members to use as a starting point, although members were also encouraged to change it and add their own thoughts.  

Members participating in the campaign were asked to copy their letters to policy.admin@rtpi.org.uk, so that the RTPI can monitor the issues that raised and factor these in to our own briefings of parliamentarians and civil servants.

We also asked members to speak to non-planning colleagues and contacts about the issues.  Individuals and bodies who may naturally be assumed to support the proposals often did not do so, once concerns are explained to them.  

The RTPI has had contact with a range of institutions including the British Property Federation, the CBI, the Country Landowners Association, the Federation of Small Businesses, the HBF, RIBA and RICS, all of whom have expressed concerns about the proposals and taken actions of their own, or in partnership with us.  The chartered institutions jointly wrote to the Secretary of State Hazel Blears expressing our concerns.  

Members were also asked to encourage their contacts to take action directly or through their representative organisations.  The draft letter was designed to be adapted for use by others.

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What Effect Will My Action Have?

When RTPI commenced the STOP LMR campaign in January 2008, we asked people who were participating in the campaign to copy letters and responses back to policy team, so that we could monitor the effectiveness of the campaign and the issues raised.

Conversations with CLG have made clear that the campaign is communicating to Ministers and Civil Servants that professionals have deep and well-founded concerns about the way this proposal would work.  We expect a new round of communication and consultation to take place, to enable government to make the workings of the proposal clearer and to listen to peoples' views.

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What Else Has the RTPI Done?

The RTPI is completely opposed to the formation of Local Member Review Bodies in England and  continues to strive to have them omitted from the Planning Bill.  

The steps we have taken so far are many, including strong opposition to the proposal when it was raised during the Barker review, throughout the government's preparation for and consultation on the Planning White Paper and in all parliamentary stages to date on the Planning Bill. 

Robert Upton, RTPI Secretary General, firmly stated in oral evidence to the Bill Committee that, 

“Our second major concern [relates to]…local member review bodies, which we see as a major breach of the 1947 settlement, which separated the decision-taking from the appeal process.”

The RTPI has written to the Secretary of State, Hazel Blears explaining our strong concerns about the Local Member Review Body proposals. The letter was jointly signed by the Presidents of both the RIBA and RICS, thus lending additional weight and support. It was copied to both John Healy, Minister for Local Government and Yvette Cooper, Minister for Planning and Housing. We continue to meet with a widening coalition of interest groups with concerns about the proposals.

We have had face-to-face meetings with representatives of all the major political parties including shadow Ministers and have been exploiting our hard won access to a range of MPs and members of the House of Lords.

Whilst we have strongly welcomed the government's willingness to change direction in response to members' and others' concerns, until the amendments to remove the clauses are introduced in the House of Lords, we will continue to raise concerns about local member review with politicians, civil servants and all areas of the press and media. 

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Future Action

Following the likely introduction of amendments in the House of Lords in response to our campaign, it is most likely that no additional public campaigning activities will be required.  However, at present, our campaign is only suspended and our decisions on future action will depend on the position that emerges in the Lords. 

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Author:

Rynd Smith

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

26-Jun-08

Categories:

Policy, Practice 

Sections:

The RTPI

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