Question
Can the Executive Leader confirm the determination of where the houses in the Local Plan Update (LPU) are to go is a political decision - not an officer decision and that the officers are doing what the politicians want them to do?
Minutes:
Question:
Can the Executive Leader confirm the determination of where the houses in the Local Plan Update are to go is a political decision - not an officer decision and that the officers are doing what the politicians want them to do?
Answer
Any decisions we make on the Local Plan must be based on evidence and have full regard to the requirements of national planning policy and guidance. Decisions we take should not and cannot, be based on ‘politics’.
For clarity, it may also be helpful for me to touch briefly on the roles of councillors and officers within local government.
Councillors and officers have different but complementary roles. Both serve the public, but councillors are accountable to the electorate, whilst officers are responsible to the council as a whole.
Councillors set the policies of the council, taking into account the professional advice of officers. Officers are impartial and politically neutral. It is the role of officers to provide the best professional advice to councillors, and to implement the policies of the council once agreed.
Councillors from time to time may disagree with the best professional advice of officers. When this occurs, appropriate and clear justification must be made.
In the operation of the council, councillors must fully respect the impartiality of officers and cannot pressure or act in anyway which compromises this. In this context, politicians cannot tell officers what to recommend.
In terms of the Local Plan, decisions on the sites to be included in the new local plan will be made by councillors, but they should be made having regard to the best professional advice of officers. Officer recommendations will be evidence driven.
The fact that the Local Plan will be examined by an independent Planning Inspector shows the importance of decisions being taken objectively, being evidence-based and taking account of the best professional advice officers provide to us.
As decision makers, councillors can decide not to follow officer advice if they consider there are clear and compelling reasons not to do so. However, those reasons will be fully tested by the independent Planning Inspector when our plan is at examination, so councillors need to be clear of their basis for making decisions contrary to officer advice if that is what they choose to do.
I am sure you know we are trying to engage with government ministers to get to try to work with them to reduce government housing targets for Wokingham, currently nearly 800 new homes a year. This has been made all the more difficult by having to deal with 3 secretaries of state for levelling up, housing and communities since we took over the Administration of the Council on 19th May this year.
Supplementary question:
I understand that a group calling itself Hall Farm Developments are in negotiations with local landowners in the Hall Farm area. Will the Executive ensure that any discussion with Council officers and developers is publicly disclosed to ensure that the LPU consultation is fully transparent and can you confirm whether or not the Hall Farm Developers Group are in contact with Wokingham Planning department?
Supplementary answer:
I’m not aware of Hall Farm Development Group but I will find out about them and we will be as open and transparent as we possibly can.