Rt Hon Greg Clark MP
Minister of State
Department for Communities and Local Government
Eland House
Bressenden Place
London
SW1E 5DU

15 September 2011

Dear Greg,

I am writing to you in support of the proposal made by Local Works regarding planning applications under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 (the SCA) and the Sustainable Communities Act (Amendment) Act 2010. This proposal is a sensible way to allow Town and Parish Councils to fulfil their statutory duty to act as consultees on major planning projects.

At present the imbalance between small councils on the one hand, and wealthy developers on the other, means that local representatives are often unable to properly carry out this role in the interests of the communities they represent. Developers can use their financial muscle to present proposals so large that it is unreasonable to expect local people to read them. As an example of this, in the recent application by Tesco Ltd to build on a site at Leiston, the application was ten inches thick. There is a further imbalance in the system as well. At present all the consultants used in the application are hired by the applicant, with the result that they are usually favourable to the application. Dissenting voices are not properly heard.

Local Works' proposal is a cost effective way of using the rights granted by the SCA to deal with these imbalances in a proper way at the local level. He suggests that new guidance is introduced, so that applicants for major planning proposals have to:

1. Attend a meeting of the local Town or Parish Council, or a Town Meeting, to answer questions about the development, and
2. Fund the Council to commission an independent report and critique of the submitted application.

Since 7th June this proposal has gained the support of 1,100 Town and Parish Councils from across the country. I am sure you are pleased to hear this in light of your support for the SCA when it was introduced, and your commendable enthusiasm to extend the act to Town and Parish Councils in 2010.

I hope, therefore, that you will support this proposal, more details of which can be found at www.localworks.org, and take the necessary steps to reach an agreement with local councils for taking it forward.

I look forward to hearing your response.

Yours sincerely,
 

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion