Leader 'disappointed' at removal of planning power

A decision by the government to place a council into planning "special measures" has been described as "disappointing" by its leader, but one the authority had been preparing for.

Planning minister, Matthew Pennycook, issued nine designation notices after councils, including Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, failed to meet national standards on the quality of major planning decisions.

Developers will now have the option of bypassing the authority and submitting major applications directly to the Planning Inspectorate.

"We've known about this situation for a while, we've done lots of things to try and remedy it, but we are where we are," said council leader, Mike Gledhill.

The designation was triggered after more than 10% of major planning decisions were overturned over a two-year period.

Gledhill said the Labour-led authority had considered 34 major applications between 2023 and 2025, approving 29 and rejecting five, with several of those refusals later overturned by inspectors.

"There's a tension in planning and there always has been," he told BBC Radio Stoke. "What might feel right nationally, may not feel right locally.

"Members on the planning committee sit there as if they're members of juries. They don't sit there as representatives of political parties."

He said the district faced particular challenges because about a third of the area was green belt land, and another third lies within the Peak District National Park.

"There's a quality of life in places like the Moorlands that people don't like to be disturbed", he added.

Planning consultant, Keith Fenwick, who is executive director at Pegasus Group, said there was "a little bit of misunderstanding" about what the designation actually meant.

"It doesn't remove from Staffordshire Moorlands, or planning applications coming to them," he said. "What it does is give applicants the choice."

Fenwick said developers who apply directly to the Planning Inspectorate lose their right to appeal and are unable to submit additional information once an application has been lodged.

He said the decision was "quite a harsh judgment" as the authority had only narrowly exceeded the government's threshold on what he called a relatively small sample size.

"For most of my clients, I wouldn't be recommending that they go direct to the planning inspector," he added. "I think you'd still want to apply direct to Staffordshire Moorlands.

"I'm not convinced that it will make a huge difference."

Gledhill said the council had already carried out extensive training with councillors and planning officers and believed its performance had already improved.

He added: "The government could look at us within six months and say, 'Yeah, this is going well - you're out.'"

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.