David and I are inviting you to take part in the City Council consultation on changes to the decision-making process. I am worried about the proposed changes because they do not appear to be thought through properly. Please bear with me as I explain why.
Currently the North- East Area Committee meets every 3rd Tuesday of the month to hear the views of residents at open session, to debate local issues like traffic schemes and the London Road development and crime figures and the Library, and to make decisions on planning applications in the local area.
It is proposed to replace these area committees with quarterly area forums but it is not clear what these will do, where they will be held, who will attend them and what they are for. We have asked for information on whether these forums will have ‘teeth’, whether they will be resourced, whether they will be promoted, and indeed whether they will be held at all in some regeneration areas, but no information has been forthcoming.
It would appear that part of the proposed Ward member budgets will be spent on hiring venues for the area forums and promoting them.
If these proposals are successful, decision-making on planning applications will cease to be done in this area by local councillors who have good local knowledge and an understanding of local issues, and will instead be made by “politically balanced” centralised planning committees at the Town Hall. This is hardly a localist agenda!
We have been unable to find any evidence that these changes would make savings for council tax payers. It would appear that these proposals are motivated entirely for party political reasons and to weaken the power of back-bench councillors
We would also alert you to the fact that the City Council will no longer write to residents who live near properties for which planning applications have been submitted –consultation will be done electronically except for site notices and lists in libraries which may or may not be closed as a result of County Council cuts. Our Group submitted a budget amendment to stop this from happening as we are concerned that many people are not able to access data electronically.
If you would like to keep the area committees as they are now, please comment under Q6
The consultation website is here
If you know of anyone without internet access who would like a paper copy of the consultation form, please let us know their name and address and we will make sure they get one. The consultation ends on 25 March.