Councillors complain about lack of planning work
Daniel HodgsonA planning committee has asked for more work following a drop in applications being submitted to them.
Councillors on Middlesbrough County Council's planning committee made the request and cited the fact that the Middlesbrough Development Corporation (MDC) now acted as the planning authority for the town centre and Middlehaven.
So some plans were out of the local authority's control, while others were decided by council officers.
A spokesperson for the council said members who would like the committee to discuss specific applications could request for them to be called in.
The committee is scheduled to meet once a month, but between December and March the councillors met only once as there was nothing for them to do, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Speaking at April's planning meeting, independent councillor, Joan McTigue, said she originally thought the MDC would "only handle what you would call 'big' applications".
"I know we have to have a planning committee, but I sometimes ask why we're here, because we meet so rarely now," she said.
Conservative councillor David Coupe said he found it "hard to believe that suddenly we haven't got anything to do".
A council officer said the MDC had "a right to take their powers and they've done that".
Typically, applications would come to the planning committee when the council was applying to itself for permission.
The council's scheme of delegation dictates that if a planning permission application has fewer than three objections, it becomes an officer decision, rather than going to the committee.
A spokesperson for Middlesbrough Council said the scheme of delegation was "agreed by members" and the proportion of cases dealt with by the committee was "roughly in line with the national average".
"Members who want the committee to deal with any particular case are also free to request the application be called in, which can be then added to the agenda to be discussed," they said.