Shiplake Villages - Forum Post

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Dramatic reduction in democratic oversight of planning process

In the past, inappropriate developments in Shiplake have been opposed by residents and councillors, resulting in the application being referred to the planning committee; soon such action will not be possible.

From the end of October, under new Government legislation, local democratic oversight of the planning process will be dramatically curtailed. Unelected officers will be given total power to decide on approval of any development of up to 9 houses, even if there are 500 local objections. Councillors will have their power to ‘call-in’ any such application to the planning committee removed.

Even schemes of 10 or more houses can only be called in to the committee with approval from senior planning officers, effectively giving unelected officials a total veto over public scrutiny.

This policy is completely at odds with Andy Burnham's claim that he will devolve power to the regions, so it is unsurprising it has been given so little publicity.

Posted by: David Bartholomew | 21/08/2026 10:21 am

Please click on Peter's link and sign the petition. The whole process will only take a couple of minutes. So far, there are less than 100 signatures, which is extraordinary considering the impact it could have on people's lives – especially those in rural and semi-rural areas like ours.

Posted by: David Bartholomew | 22/08/2026 9:11 am

Maybe this is the wake up call needed to bring this to Burnhams attention.

There is an open petition on Change.org which clearly has received very little publicity as it is only signed by a few people so far. We can change that easily if we try! Here is a link to that petition. Please sign it and get your friends and contacts/family to sign it!

Rescind the Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions Regulations 2026 - Petitions

Posted by: Peter Boros | 21/08/2026 8:08 pm

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