The Conservative Opposition on Somerset Council has issued the following statement regarding the Liberal Democrat administration’s decision to suspend large parts of the planning service for 12 weeks:
This 12-week emergency shutdown is an admission of failure. After three years in control, the Liberal Democrats have confirmed what many residents and councillors have been saying for months: the planning system in Somerset is failing — and it is they who have failed it.
Residents will be forced to pay full planning fees yet told not to chase updates. New planning applications will take priority over ones already stuck in the backlog for years. Officers are being pulled from meetings, site visits are being replaced with Google Maps, and only minimal engagement with applicants and councillors will be permitted.
This plan creates serious concerns:
- Decisions will be rushed, risking poorer outcomes for communities.
- The democratic role of councillors is already being undermined, with planning committees increasingly side lined, now more decisions are going to be made by officers, and we are being asked to refer less to committees.
- Parish councils and residents will find it almost impossible to be heard by planning officers.
- Planning enforcement will take a back seat as the focus becomes determining planning applications, worsening an already dire enforcement situation.
- There is no cast-iron guarantee these measures will end after 12 weeks.
We are also concerned that this emergency shutdown may be used to push through permanent changes. The creation of a single point of enquiry for councillors, the reduction in member involvement, and hints at tweaking the constitution are deeply troubling.
We want to be clear: we have every sympathy for the planning staff who are doing their best in very difficult circumstances. But this crisis is not the fault of officers. It is the direct result of political failure by the Liberal Democrat administration.
They inherited a well-performing system in the former Conservative-run Sedgemoor District Council — a team that won national recognition, including Planning Team of the Year in 2021 and a Planning Excellence Award in 2019. Instead of building on that success, the Liberal Democrats chose to follow the broken systems of the three other former district councils, all of which they ran. For three years they’ve failed to integrate ICT systems, failed to recruit and retain planners, and failed to tackle the mounting backlog.
Just a few months ago, the Liberal Democrat administration was actively considering cuts to the planning workforce — at the very moment when pressures were already mounting. Those proposals were scrutinised by councillors, who raised serious concerns about enforcement, backlogs, and the risk of special measures. That they even contemplated reducing staff shows a clear lack of leadership and foresight. The current emergency shutdown is the result of poor political judgment.
We are calling for this emergency shutdown plan to be brought to a Scrutiny or Strategic Planning Committee without delay for proper scrutiny and public debate.
The planning 'house' is 'on fire' and Somerset deserves better. The Liberal Democrats must take responsibility for the system they have broken.
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