Town and Country Planning Bill - Trust Annual Report 1968
The Town and Country Planning Bill was given a second reading in the House of Commons on 31st January, and has now reached the Statute Book. Its main aim is to give effect t the proposals of the White Paper 'Town & Country Planning'. In this the Government said they thought the need for quicker decisions and a larger measure of public participation in planning could best be met by more devolutio of power and streamlining of procedure. One suggestion is that members of civic societies should be co-opted on to local planning committees. The City Council, however, did not agree that this should take place in Winchester at present.
The Civic Trust also invited views from Civic Societies on the theme 'To consider and report on the best methods, including publicity, of securing the participation of the public at the formative stage in the making of development plans in their area'.
The reply of the Trust was as follows.
"The experience of the Winchester Preservation Trust in certain recent instances when it has had occasion to voice objection to major official plans affecting the city suggests that while the authorities concerned may be disposed to inform the public of details of plans already drafted (and usually also approved), there is a reluctance to invite the opinions or preference of the citizens, and still less to defer to alternative proposals, however constructive, such as those put forward by the Trust in connection with the local Traffic Plan.
In existing circumstances, except where there is a statutory obligation for some form of public enquiry, the responsible planning authority holds the aces in determining the timing and extent to which the public is taken into its confidence with regard to development proposals, however much the community in whole or in part may be materially or emotionally affected.
It is a cardinal principle of representative government that the people should be frankly informed (unless national security be involved) of administrative acts of decisions affecting their persons or property. It is therefore incumbent upon the planning authority to make known to the public concerned at an early stage, with ample time and facilities for comment, not only the outline, but also the actual details, of any such planning. It might be argued that premature revelation of schemes affecting property might precipitate a fall in land values, but it would seem only equitable that property owners should be given the maximum amount of warning of any risks of planning blight. The details, with maps where called for, should therefore be announced through the Press and other communication media, as well as being readily available at convenient centres for reference.
Such public notification, however, falls short of consultation and still less of participation of the public in the planning process. Ideally these objectives would be achievable by combination of a moot of residents/ratepayers on the model of the Swiss Landsgemeinden (which have only been able to survive in the smallest Cantons), and a referendum. These procedures being, however, precluded in the United Kingdom by physical limitations and national traditions, an alternative should be sought by the establishment of closer liaison between the planning authority and the community through the medium of mutually acceptable delegates. At the local level of parish, rural, urban or county councils this could be readily and satisfactorily effected by the participation with voting rights of an accredited representative (not being a member of the council in question) of organisations such as preservation trusts in the meetings of the authority's appropriate committees when any planning or administrative project of special public concern is under discussion. Additionally contact with public opinion could be sustained by the routine circulation of council meeting minutes to the committees of appropriate local organisations concerned with the preservation of communal interests in their various aspects.
The above simple expedients should meet the needs of situations arising in the relatively limited spheres of town and county development planning. Evidently the larger the area and/or population involved, the more difficult it becomes to safeguard the public against the incidence of unilateral or arbitrary planning. This is likely to be a relevant consideratic in the context of projects on an extensive territorial basis, such as might derive from a S.E. Regional Development programme. Nevertheless, it should still be possible with mutual goodwill to apply the same principle, with suitable modifications, of active participation from the initial planning stages in the counsels of the authority concerned by qualified representatives of the various localities likely to be affected, such as members of the local councils and/or of unofficial organisations or associations with specific causes to uphold.
An essential element in successful administration is mutual confidence and respect between the governing body and its public, which arrangements on the above lines might serve I establish. The suggested procedure would be facilitated by greater co-operation between the local organisations or associations with similar or parallel interest in sensible and fair planning.
In this general context it seems pertinent to quote the following extract from a report in The Times of 20th February 1962, of the debate in the House of Commons regarding the Chilcomb Gas Bill promoted by the Gas Board to provide for the storage of gas under an extensive subterranean area of Winchester (which was significantly withdrawn before its second reading in the face of concerted opposition by the citizens and city council of Winchester, the Cathedral and College authorities, and various other influential bodies, with the active support of the local Member of Parliament and his colleagues of all parties):
'Mr. Smithers, M.P. for Winchester, asked the Minister of Power, Mr. Wood, whether any assurance was given to the Minister by the Gas Council that consultations had taken place with the Winchester City Council and with other bodies or persons directly affected when application was made to him by the Gas Council for his consent to promote the Bill. Mr. Wood. "No"."
(A fuller description of the Gas Storage Bill is given later in this report.)