Give us more work to do, says planning committee

A GROUP of councillors on Middlesbrough's planning committee have been asking for more work.

- By DANIEL HODGSON [e-mail]

Their request, made both at Middlesbrough Council's planning meeting in April, cited several factors for a drop in applications currently coming to committee.

This included the fact that the Middlesbrough Development Corporation (MDC) now acts as the planning authority for town centre and Middlehaven, meaning that any plans submitted in this geographical area, big or small, are determined outside of the local council's control.

The planning and development committee is scheduled to meet once a month, but between December and March, the group of councillors, who decide the fate of certain planning applications, only met once. Their February meeting took place, but meetings scheduled for December, January and March were cancelled as there was nothing for them to do.

Typically, applications will come to the planning committee when the council are applying to themselves for permission, as was the case with an access road in Coulby Newham in February.

The council's scheme of delegation dictates that if a planning permission application has less than three objections, then it becomes an officer decision, rather than going to the planning and development committee.