Robbing power from local councils11 October 2012
The Government is planning to steal local planning power.
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, wants to introduce planning reforms that will steal planning powers from local councils.
Stealing power
To demonstrate this, volunteers took to the streets of Birmingham outside the Conservative Party conference.
Dressing up as robbers in Eric Pickles masks, they drew attention to his plans to rob local councils of their planning powers.
If his proposed plans go ahead under what he terms "muscular localism", it will undermine local democracy and centralise planning decisions.
What's next?
We expect to find out the full details of his planning reforms by the end of October.
Watch this space for more news and action, or join our planning hub for updates.
© Charlotte Chan
