By Councillor Kelvin Clayton (Bridport) 
A Parish Council has just made the national news, but for all the wrong reasons.
A recording of an online meeting of Handforth’s Planning and Environment Committee, showing some disgraceful behaviour by a number of councillors, has gone viral on social media.
If you have been thinking of standing for your local town or parish council, but, on seeing this, have been put off, please think again.
As a Dorset Councillor I attend the four parish councils that lie within my ward, and can guarantee that the Handforth example is a rarity.
Whilst parish councils are, in theory at least, non-political, they could, and often do, make a real contribution to their community and the Green agenda.
Town and parish councils are statutory consultees on all planning applications in their area.
If all parishes started to return similar comments, for example by not supporting any greenfield development on climate grounds or demanding every new development to have the highest energy efficiency, I think that this would eventually have a positive effect on the planning officers who make about 95% of our planning decisions. And this could happen if more of us stood for election.
I have been sitting on both Dorset Council’s Western and Southern Area Planning Committee and Bridport Town Council’s Planning Committee since the last local elections.
In that time I have become convinced that planning is probably the most important area of a council’s work with regards to the mitigation of climate change. But, as a councillor, I feel my hands are tied by out-of-date national guidelines and overly cautious planning officers who are nervous of legal challenges to their decisions.
Very few planning decisions are clear cut. Most require the balancing of competing requirements. Perhaps more pressure from towns and parishes would tip this balance in favour of a future climate that continued to support human life.
If you want to make a direct impact on your local area, then consider standing as a candidate - by-elections this May!
Contact us at dorsetgreenparty@gmail.com for support and guidance on how to do so.
Graham Lambert adds:
THE DORSET COUNCIL LOCAL PLAN
Dorset Council has launched a consultation on the Dorset Local Plan. It will set the parameters for development in Dorset through till 2038, following its adoption (hoped for) in 2023. It will thus cover the last 7 years of this decade which are likely to be so crucial to determining the scale of climate change into the future.
The Consultation is available online. It is live until 15th March 2021. Search Dorset Council Consultation.
It is at first sight a daunting prospect as it is a massive document, but you can comment on just the areas that interest you. Please have your say.
