Putting residents at the heart of our planning process

Reversing Labour’s top down planning laws

Having been deputy chairman of the Civic Trust, and currently President of the Kent Federation of Amenity Socieites (see note), I am passionate about conservation, our urban environment and very concerned about unsustainable development. As a result I am extremely pleased that residents, community groups and neighbourhoods will be put at the heart of our planning process if there was a Conservative Government.

A new system of ‘Open Source’ democracy and neighbourhood involvement will help deliver sustainable development across Thanet, Sandwich and our villages. Whitehall targets and unelected quangos will be scrapped, to be replaced with collaborative working and new incentives to promote and reward local homes and jobs.
This will give those who I have worked with to oppose excessive developments across Thanet and Sandwich, relief that their neighbourhoods would be protected from the imposition of central targets and that neighbourhood plans would take precendence.

This comes as the democratic deifict is further revealed through official Government surveys showing that only 1 in 3 people think they can influence decisions in their local area, and just 1 in 5 people think they can influence national decisions.

Under a new policy initiative, entitled Open Source Planning, Conservatives will:
• Abolish the undemocratic and ineffective tier of regional planning overseen by unelected quangos. This would include scrapping the South East Plan.
• Use collaborative democracy to allow local communities to create ‘bottom-up’ local plans, helping the residents from South Thanet, Sandiwch and our villages shape and protect the character of their neighbourhoods.
• Tackle the scourge of ‘garden grabbing’ and over-development in residential roads, giving new powers to protect the character of neighbourhoods.
• Maintain national Green Belt protection and other special protections for wildlife and the countryside, whilst allowing sustainable development elsewhere in accordance with the local plan.
• Change Whitehall’s restrictive parking rules to ensure more parking spaces are provided in family homes and near local shops, taking the pressure off crowded residential streets.

“The Government’s planning system is a source of immense frustration and concern for many residents across East Kent. Under Labour, planning rules are too complex and too many decisions are taken by unelected officials, ignoring the views of local residents.

“This bold new Conservative vision will put our residents in the driving seat to help shape our community, transferring power from Whitehall bureaucrats and Labour’s unelected regional quangos. This will help deliver new homes in appropriate places with the consent of the residetns, whilst championing local democracy and protecting our local amenity and environment.”

NOTE: I am not issuing this in the capacity as President of KFAS or on their behalf