Join member Roger Davies as he shares his knowledge on how local and county councils work and what this means for planning and developments where you live.
There has been a lot in the news over the last few years about the desperate need for more houses. I think we can all agree, that more new houses are desperately needed, but they must not be built anywhere near my backyard. Government decrees are issued, and the local council will incorporate the new target numbers into their “Local Plan”. (That is if they have produced one.) Nearly thirty years ago, as a councillor on Devon County Council and Exeter City Council, I sat on the planning committees and became quite familiar with some of the processes.
The developers would acquire an option on some land and meet with the council planning officers and try to thrash out an acceptable development. Our council and the planning officers were particularly big on section 106 orders requiring the developer to contribute, sometimes huge, sums of money to the council, to pay for infrastructure to service the development. These would include highway improvements, medical facilities and schools. Our cash strapped education and highways departments loved this as once the 106 monies had been handed over, it was not necessarily ringfenced so the cash could be used by the council anywhere within its remit.
I always felt that even though this was perfectly legal and within the planning regulations, it almost worked like a bribe. The developer agreed to fund the council and then got the requisite permissions. These were not the only ways developers would try to force through planning applications.
Exeter City football club has got a traditional, old football stadium, St. James Park, right in the heart of Exeter City Centre. If the land was used for a city centre development, then it would be worth a fortune. One developer acquired an option on some marshy land just beyond the edge of Exeter trading estate on the banks of the river Exe. This land was only fit for sheep grazing. However, the developer had an artist’s impression drawn up of a magnificent new football stadium. This was sent to the local paper, which published it along with the story that the developer would build this stadium for free for the club in exchange for their land. It also implied that there would be money left over for the club to buy fresh players.
The Exeter City fans started a campaign in support of their new ground. It would take a very brave councillor to vote against this proposal, no elected official will go against that many voters. Thank goodness the campaign died a death when it was revealed that this “waste” land was part of the Exe River flood plain and even without the proposed concreted over carparks, the land would flood and be under water for most of the winter (football season). Exeter City still play at St James Park to this day.
St James Park Exeter City Football Club
Sometimes the developer and the planners are virtually the same people. Devon Highways Department, part of the Environment Committee were involved with a proposed new bypass for Torbay. The local District Council Planning Committee had to agree on the planning permission. I was a member of the Devon CC Highways Committee. We had to agree on a route to be submitted to the Planning Committee. It became controversial when, as usual, some of the locals who lived on the proposed new route, started up a protest movement. So far this was pretty much par for the course, then someone discovered, or just suggested, that a very rare bird, Cirl Bunting, could be nesting on the route. When things become difficult then the standard response was to have a site visit. So, one fine sunny day the whole highways committee was bused out to the South Devon countryside to see for ourselves.
It was a pleasant day as we were shown the fields and hedges that would be dug up, the houses that would be able to see the new road and places that may or may not have this rare bird in them. It was pointed out that the Cirl Bunting is a small brown bird that looks a bit like a sparrow, which even if we saw one, there was no one with us who would recognise it. Then the excitement started. We walked to the end of one hedge row and were confronted by a small horde of chanting protesters. A tired looking bobby was present to keep them away from the committee. Our council officers tried to usher us back to our buses to get away from the protesters. But there were some of us councillors who were keen to speak to the protesters. So, we went over to chat with them. It was then that we discovered that it was not only the councillors who had been bussed in, the protesters were from all over the country, some had even come down from Newcastle to attend. We did not find anyone from Devon there. After due deliberation, the route for the A380 bypass was agreed.
When we moved to Wrexham my boyhood home, my wife Joyce was pleasantly surprised to find that there were a lot more open spaces and mature trees here than we had become used to in Exeter. From her point of view, it was brilliant. So, we bought a house on a recent development, built in 2002, which not only had great open spaces with mature trees between the parts of the estate it also had a maintained playground for the youngsters. Not that we would get any use out of that.
Now I discovered another way that the council used to save money on developments. Instead of a 106-order making the developer pay money to the council, Wrexham used it to make the developer responsible for the upkeep of the estate in perpetuity. Now the council did not have to pay for the maintenance of the estate, the developer had to. Of course, the developer then passed the costs on to the householders by charging a nominal ground rent. Even though the houses were freehold, it was written into the buying contracts that this “ground rent” would be charged.
Of course, the developer passed the running of the estate on to a management company who saw the estate as a cash cow to be milked and the charges spiralled out of control. By 2010 the householders on our estate had had enough and got together and formed their own company to run it, the developers by that time had had enough of the hassles and were happy to offload. A resident’s board of directors was formed, and a new management company hired. The charge steadied at about £100 per household per year, but there has been a lot of upwards pressure since the pandemic.
One of the unforeseen issues of this system is that the householders, as they were paying for facilities, rightly saw them as belonging to the estate. Notices were put up on the playground fences stating that they were for residents only. Because the playground was well maintained outsiders came by car with their children to play. They in turn became upset about the banning notices and complained to their county councillor and it became a big issue in the local press. This has not stopped the council from issuing the same 106-orders for new developments going through planning now.
Many people are confused about the different types of local council that you may come across and who is responsible for what. So, I will try to explain some of the different types of local authority that are out there.
There are the traditional County Councils. Mainly based on old county boundaries, like Devon, Lancashire or Oxfordshire. These are responsible for things like social services, education, highways, waste disposal, public transport and libraries. If a department spends huge amounts of money, then it will be County.
Then there are the District Councils usually made up of one or two parliamentary constituencies. These are responsible for waste collection, planning, environmental health, council housing and leisure activities. (Note that the District Council collects the waste, and the County Council disposes of it.)
A unitary authority combines the responsibilities of both County and District Councils. You will also probably have a Parish, Town or Community Council, which is a very local council, responsible for cemeteries, local parks, community centres, war memorials, litter, benches and rights of way. Though County and Parish councillors do not sit directly on the planning committees, their views are requested for every planning application that goes before the committee. (Did you know that large numbers of planning applications never get to see the planning committee, they are directly decided by planning officers of the district council under delegated powers?).
The largest cities can have a Metropolitan Council, which takes on most of the jobs of the other councils; they are now usually run by a mayor (who is different from a ceremonial Mayor).
Central government provides the bulk of the billions of pounds that are spent by your local councillors, though it may not seem like it when the huge council tax bill drops through your letterbox in the spring. Council tax not only pays towards your local services though, but you are also contributing to your local police force and fire brigade at the same time.
I suppose the biggest thing to remember is that ultimately you oversee local government. It is your vote that will elect the councillors who will decide what happens in your area, yet anything up to 70% of the electorate will not vote in the council elections. Many councillors are elected unopposed because all the political parties struggle to get candidates to stand. I know because I was elected 3 years ago to my local community council unopposed.
For those who want to know I am back row right hand side in the Exeter City picture and middle row eighth from the left in the Devon County photo.
Devon County Council 1996
Exeter City Council 1999