Statutory consultees are official stakeholders that are legally required to provide advice on planning decisions to ensure environmental, transport, safety and heritage considerations are addressed.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has said that though statutory consultees play an important role in the planning system, councils and developers reported that the system was not working effectively. According to the MHCLG over the last three years, over 300 development applications were escalated to the Secretary of State due to objections from consultees.
The move would see the list of statutory consultees, which currently includes over 25 organisations, reduced and focus on areas such as environmental protection, safety and heritage. Sport England, the Theatres Trust and The Gardens Trust were named as possible cuts from the list. The Ministry stressed that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) would continue to apply. The announcement (10th of March), comes ahead of the government’s introduction of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
The Gardens Trust is a national charity exclusively focused on historic parks and gardens. The charity represents and supports the 36 local volunteer County Garden Trusts in England, the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, and works with related bodies across the UK. As a statutory consultee for all planning applications that may affect a site nationally designated on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, The Gardens Trust provides local planning authorities with advice recommendations.
“Dismayed the government intends to remove it as a statutory consultee”, the charity has said that it receives some 1800 planning application consultations and that 80% of their comments are advice to support approval of planning permission, with only 20% expressing serious reservations about proposals
“We don’t recognise ourselves in the government’s characterisation of statutory consultees. We only rarely miss the 21 day response deadline (remarkable given that we work closely with local volunteers in forming our responses), and last year objected to less than 10% of our consultations, with the remainder of our responses being simply supportive advice. We are passionate about the role that the UK’s world-famous historic parks and gardens can play in supporting positive economic growth and healthy cohesive societies, and eager to continue helping this in our role as statutory consultee”, explained the Gardens Trust.
The charity added, “The UK benefits from a unique readymade green cultural infrastructure in a network of historic designed landscapes, created over hundreds of years by this nation of garden lovers. Often referred to as ‘historic parks and gardens’, these special places have an important role to play as tools to address the key issues of our time. Economic growth and positive development is vital to move the UK forwards. It is essential that communities’ need for parks and gardens is reflected in this.”
Research commissioned by the Gardens Trust in 2021 found that 75% of those consulted, who are not involved in the Gardens Trust said ‘I’d be devastated if local historic sites/green spaces in my local area were built on’.
To support the Gardens Trust’s statutory consultee work it receives a grant of £42,000 from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). In order to deliver its statutory consultee role, the Gardens Trust’s small team of national paid Conservation Officers and experts working pro bono coordinates a volunteer army across 36 affiliated County Gardens Trusts.
The government will consult on the impacts of removing a limited number of statutory consultees and narrowing the scope of others this spring.