January 2021

The granting of planning permission by Teignbridge Council last year for development at Langford Bridge Farm was properly handled, according to an independent review by the national Planning Advisory Service.

Its report concludes that the “planning decision was made properly. The officer’s report was good. The correct issues were in play and balanced appropriately”.

It also concluded that many of the allegations made at the time were based on misunderstandings of the planning process.

The Report’s authors – Ipswich Council’s Deputy Leader Cllr Bryony Rudkin, Dorset Council’s Head of Business Insight & Corporate Communications Bridget Downton and Planning Advisory Service’s Peer Challenge Manager Richard Crawley – based their report on discussions with a number of councillors and officers as well as those concerned at the process and reviewed documentation.

A number of recommendations are made to strengthen the planning process including reviewing the size of the planning committee which the authors suggested was too large; improving and simplifying arrangements for site visits; and allowing more people to address the committee on contentious planning applications.

The Report’s authors noted that relationships between some councillors and the rest of the council were extremely poor but concluded that “many of the allegations presented to us were based on misunderstandings and misinterpretations of how planning works in local government”.

But having noted that the “behaviour of the councillors was very difficult, but also that there was a lack of political awareness, tolerance and an insight in respect of the roles of members, which manifested itself in the language of some officers” the Report’s authors recommend joint officer councillor training to cover “planning; political awareness – the art of the possible”.

Head of Place and Commercial Services Neil Blaney thanked the authors for their efforts and said: “We are pleased that the independent report by the respected national Planning Advisory Service concludes that our processes are robust and that this application was handled properly.

“We will discuss with councillors the recommendations made to boost understanding and simplify our processes so we can continue to ensure that our approach to dealing with planning applications is fair, effective and within the legal decision-making framework

Councillors received a presentation on the review at November’s Council meeting ahead of the report being submitted.