Penrith’s Neighbourhood Plan that has taken almost nine years to get to the point of being formally adopted by Westmorland and Furness Council will be adopted into local planning policy by Westmorland and Furness Councils cabinet on the 23rd of January, making it a statutory part of the local planning framework. Despite a historically low turnout of voters in the referendum held in November with just 1,371 votes cast representing just 10.17% of the registered voters in Penrith that were eligible to vote in the referendum.
On Monday evening at a Penrith Town Council meeting, Westmorland and Furness Councillor Virginia Taylor outlined significant challenges ahead due to recent changes to national planning policy and claimed the neighbourhood plan is now very much compromised in terms of their weight due to changes to new national planning rules.
Cllr Taylor explained that while the plan’s adoption was a vital step, sweeping reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) have significantly altered how local authorities manage planning applications. “These changes are not very friendly in terms of the powers available to members,” she said. “Far fewer applications will go to planning committees. they will now go to officers for consideration.”
Cllr Taylor highlighted the sharp increase in mandatory housing targets for the council, with annual figures rising from below 500 to more than 2,000 new homes annually. She noted the impact of these changes on the five-year housing land supply, a critical measure for local planning control.
“This number of houses that we have to deliver is obviously now considerably more than it was, which means that it’s possible our housing land supply is dead in the water,” she said. Without a sufficient land supply, the “tilted balance” comes into effect, requiring decisions to favour development unless there are strong reasons not to approve.
“The problem with that is that the local plan and how it affects your neighbourhood plan are very much compromised in terms of their weight,” Cllr Taylor explained.
She drew attention to the parallels with past challenges faced by the former Eden District Council’s Planning Committee. “People who were on Eden District Council’s Planning Committee will remember the pain of dealing with speculative applications that couldn’t be refused,” she said.
One issue that has caused delays to housing developments in the former Eden District Council area is the introduction of Nutrient Neutrality that was introduced to reduce nutrient impact on local rivers and waterways by offsetting the impacts with mitigation measures Cllr Taylor said that the government has allocated Westmorland and Furness Council a “shed loads of money” to address nutrient neutrality issues affecting development approvals. However, implementing mitigation measures in Penrith remains challenging as Cllr Taylor explained as “All mitigation for Penrith has to be upstream of the wastewater treatment plant near the Llama Karma Café, between there and Ullswater,” she explained. “Even if we’ve got the money, it is extremely difficult actually to do this.”
Amid the difficulties and challenges caused by the new national planning policy changes and substantially increased mandatory housing targets, Cllr Taylor said there was a need for greater collaboration between councils, councillors, and planning officers.
“It would be really great if we could actually try and work together on this and decide how we’re going to make the best of what is a bad job,” she said. “Planning is a very depressing process. Things you know are right, actually, you can’t achieve. Unfortunately, this is going to get worse rather than better.”
Despite the formal adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan, concerns about the future of local planning control overshadow its implementation. With increased housing targets and reduced decision-making powers, Planners and local leaders face the challenge of balancing development pressures with the needs of the community.
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