Last week, the council met for the first time since the election and amongst it’s first acts was the decision to abolish local planning committees. Instead, all planning decisions will now be taken by centralised planning committees which will mean that local ward councillors will no longer have any say over whether planning applications are approved.
When Katie Dawson became the first Green Party councillor within Islington Council, she sought to strengthen local decision making by ensureing that area committees dealth with all local planning matters, including larger projects like the Arsenal stadium.
Now, there will be no local democratic accountability for planning deciscions and the Council will be able to push through schemes against the wishes of local residents.
Islington Green Party spokeswoman Emma Dixon said
“This is a bad day for local democracy. It means the end of 25 years of local decision-making in planning matters in Islington.
Local ward councillors are best placed to know what is right for the wards they represent. They should be the ones deciding these applications. And they should take the consequences at the ballot-box if they make the wrong decisions.”
Islington Labour Party’s 2010 manifesto promised to “ensure that local people have an active involvement in all the development decisions that affect their neighbourhoods”.
That seems to be one promise the new Council will be unable to keep.