Hundreds of thousands of people will lose the right to complain about noise, pollution or disruption caused by the construction of major infrastructure projects under proposals set out in the Planning Bill, council leaders are warning.
LACORS, which oversees councils’ environmental protection work, has written to Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears expressing concerns that the controversial clause would silence local opposition to new building projects via the back door. The letter has also been signed by the charity Environmental Protection UK.
Current proposals would see around 40 to 50 nationally significant infrastructure projects, including airports, rail links, trunk roads and power stations, given the go ahead each year by the proposed new national planning commission.
The Government has sought to reassure councils that they will have an important role to play, with council-produced local impact assessments highlighting any potential negative impacts of development on local people.
However the addition of Clause 151 means that once developments have been given the go-ahead, councils will be unable to act on any complaints from local people regarding nuisance caused by pollution such as noise, odour or light resulting from development work.
Councillor Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA Environment Board, said: “It is totally unacceptable that people should not be able to complain about noise, light, pollution and general disturbances to their day to day lives. Councils need to be able to hold construction companies to account to ensure that disruption for local people is kept to an absolute minimum.
”Everyone recognises that the country needs power stations, motorways and train tracks, but it is vital that councils and local people are properly consulted and that residents know that action will be taken if their lives are unfairly disrupted.”