Wokingham Lib Dems urge Government to drop their plans to take Planning powers away from Local Authorities (Wokingham Liberal Democrats)

Wokingham Liberal Democrats <info@wokinghamlibdems.org.uk>

Wokingham Lib Dems urge Government to drop their plans to take Planning powers away from Local Authorities

March 25, 2004 12:00 AM

Wokingham Liberal Democrats won support from Tory Councillors to urge the Government to scrap its plans to expand their planning powers at the expense of local decision-making.

At the Wokingham District Council meeting at Shute End last night, Councillor Keith Malvern (Lib Dem Councillor for Emmbrook ward) said, "The Government wants to take planning power away from local authorities, and I strongly oppose this move. People who know their own communities are the best people to make planning decisions, not some remote politicians in Westminster.

"The Government keeps chipping away at our rights to make local decisions at a local level, and their proposal to scrap local countryside designations is yet another example of how they are weakening local authorities' powers. Add to this the Government's wish to build more than 140,000 new houses each year, and it all adds up to the most enormous threat to our countryside."

The Tories attempted a wrecking amendment to Keith Malvern's motion in an attempt to force the Lib Dems to abstain from their own proposal, but a compromise was reached and the motion was supported unanimously.

The Lib Dem motion was as follows:

"This Council opposes the Government's plan to scrap local countryside designations, thus weakening local authorities' powers to protect our local countryside from development. This Council believes that Wokingham District Council is best placed to make planning decisions on behalf of its own communities and agrees to make cross-party representation to the Government urging them to drop their plans to expand their powers at the expense of local decision-making."