Kirklees Council to streamline planning process in move that will save £100,000 - but not everyone is happy

The move will be made next month and will give council officers more responsibility for undertaking work around planning decisions, reducing the number of applications that will need to be decided by a planning committee.

The council currently has a strategic planning committee and two sub-committees – one covering the Huddersfield area, the other for the Heavy-Woollen area which meets at Dewsbury Town Hall.

However, the number of committees will soon be cut from three to two.

From February, the local authority will keep a strategic planning committee to determine major planning applications, while a district-wide planning committee will focus on minor and household applications.

Each committee will meet in Huddersfield Town Hall every six weeks.

Applications will only be decided at committee if they are a significant departure from the overall Kirklees Local Plan or if public opinion on a planning application is strongly against the officer recommendation.

Applications will also be decided by a committee if they have been referred by a ward councillor.

When the plans to change the planning system were approved, not all councillors were on board. Back at September’s full council meeting, Kirklees’ Green and Lib Dem groups voted against the plans.

Cleckheaton ward councillor Andrew Pinnock told the meeting he was “totally opposed” to the idea, describing it as “undemocratic on all sorts of levels”.

He added that a large proportion of the borough’s population would be excluded from the process, due to the committee meetings always being held in Huddersfield.

The council says that the current system had been criticised for its drawn-out process and it is hoped that the new model will encourage developers to consider sites in Kirklees and ensure that communities are actively involved in the planning process.

In a recent statement, Coun Graham Turner, cabinet member for Finance and Regeneration, said: “These changes sound small, but they will hopefully speed up our decision-making around planning applications of all sizes – at this stage simply by placing more responsibility with knowledgeable planning officers.

"In February we’ll also be streamlining our committees. And, crucially, we’ll still be making sure that local communities are involved in the process when an application matters to them.”