THE leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council has called Labour’s new planning reforms “an attack by central government on local democracy.”

Deciding planning applications is one of the most important responsibilities of local councils but new government reforms will take many decisions out of the hands of councillors.

On September 17, Bath and North East Somerset Council symbolically refused to approve the new rules - although they will come into force anyway.

Liberal Democrat council leader Kevin Guy told the council meeting: “The government say they believe in devolving powers but in front of us are a series of changes which will remove the rights of councillors to call in applications and radically curtail the planning decisions made transparently and openly in our meetings.”

Instead of being decided in public meetings by the planning committee, many more planning applications will be decided by the council’s planning officers - members of council staff who judge planning applications against its planning policy and are already responsible for deciding many smaller applications.

Applications for nine homes or less will now only be decided by councillors in exceptional circumstances.

Separately, new rules introduced in April already mean that councils cannot turn down any planning applications for more than 150 homes without government approval.

Cllr Guy said: “I am sure colleagues will agree that this is an attack by central government on local democracy. There won’t be a councillor in this chamber who has not been approached by residents asking for their support and stance on planning applications.

“Our residents believe that people who are local know best, and you are those local representatives.”

The council was due to officially vote to adopt the reforms but Mr Guy declined to move the required amendment to the council constitution “as a point of principle.”

Since it is required by the government, the reforms will be introduced into the council constitution by the council’s monitoring officer anyway.

Cllr Guy added: “We cannot vote for change in planning rules that we fundamentally do not agree with.”

Councillors on planning committees are already required to make decisions in line with planning policy, but that does not mean they always agree with planning officers.

In 2024, Bath and North East Somerset Council’s planning officers recommended that controversial plans for 290 homes on the southern edge of Bath be approved but councillors turned it down. On appeal, the government’s planning inspectorate agreed that councillors had made the right decision.

The row over the new planning reforms follows a separate spat between the council and the government over its housing target.

In 2024, the new Labour government doubled Bath and North East Somerset’s housing target for the next 18 years from around 14,900 to over 27,000. Cllr Guy called the target “unforgivable.”