The Regulatory and Appeals Committee recommended that the council approve the amalgamation of its two Area Planning Panels: Bradford, and Keighley & Shipley. The new panel, which would meet every three to four weeks, would begin work at the start of the 2025-26 municipal year. Ward councillors from the affected wards, and neighbouring wards, would be able to request that applications be referred to the new panel.

Amalgamation of Area Planning Panels

This was discussed extensively by the committee, because the council consulted on the proposals between February and March of 2020.

The Assistant Director (Planning, Transportation, and Highways), Richard Hollinson, told the committee that the merger would deliver a potential saving of £21,865, mostly from the reduced cost of paying Special Responsibility Allowances to the Chairs and members of the new panel.

Not all of the responses to the consultation had been supportive, and several concerns were raised again during the meeting.

Local democracy and representation

The minutes record that some councillors felt that the new arrangements would lead to a loss of local democracy. This is because most of the Keighley and Shipley panel area is covered by Town and Parish councils, whilst the existing Bradford planning area is not. These parish and town councils receive notifications about planning applications in their areas, which means an extra layer of local representation. This would be lost under the new arrangements.

...residents will continue to have access to this further level of local administration [Town and Parish Councils].

The report discussed by the committee explained that similar arrangements were already in place in other West Yorkshire councils:

• Leeds City Council have a City Plans Panel and two Area Plans Panels.
• Calderdale Council has a single Planning Committee.
• Kirklees Council has a Strategic Planning Committee and a District-wide Committee.
• Wakefield Council has a single Planning and Highways Committee.

Local knowledge

The minutes show that some councillors were concerned that a single planning panel would not have sufficient local knowledge. In the minutes the Development Services Manager responded to this point by saying:

...the outer areas had a third tier of representation in the form of parish and town councils who were notified of planning applications in their areas and who also had the right to request to the Chair that an application was determined at the planning panel.

Travel Time

Several of the consultation responses argued that travelling to centralised meetings in Bradford would disadvantage people in outer areas. Councillor Rebecca Whitaker, who represents Craven Ward, raised this in her consultation response:

Craven Ward is in the outlying areas in the district, furthest away from the centre of Bradford and it is important residents feel they are able to travel easily to a Panel venue which is not too far from where they live.

The development services manager suggested in the meeting that future meetings could be held at different locations, like Keighley. However, no firm proposals for this were discussed.