Bolton pursues legal challenge into national planning changes

A rallying cry has been made to other local authorities to join Bolton Council in a potential battle against the central government’s policy, which will see public officers become the default decisionmakers for most planning applications.

Bolton Council agreed “under protest” to comply with the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions, amending its constitution in order to do so. The decision was made at an extraordinary meeting of the council yesterday.

However, Bolton councillors will not go down without a fight. In the same motion, they voted to look into the potential costs of a judicial review of the planning policy and to write to all local planning authorities in England to join the council in a coordinated legal battle against the government.

A natural ally will be Tameside Council, which continues to be a stalwart against the policy. Tameside councillors have twice voted against the National Scheme of Delegation of Planning Functions, most recently on 3 November where 29 voted against the adoption of the scheme and 26 voted in favour.

Central Bedfordshire Council and Fenland Council had also voted against the planning changes.

Bolton may find support in Sunderland Council, West Lancashire Council, and Staffordshire County Council – three local authorities that begrudgingly voted to comply with the national policy last month.

Read more: Councils take on futile fight against national planning changes