Cheshire West and Chester Council Leader Mike Jones is to be a member of an independent group appointed by the Government to review planning practice guidance in England.

Chaired by Lord Matthew Taylor of Goss Moor, Chairman of the National Housing Federation, the group will scrutinise 6,000 pages of guidance which currently support the implementation of national planning policy.

The objective is to produce a dramatically reduced, accessible and more effective set of practise guidance which supports efficient planning.


Councillor Jones, Chairman of the Local Government Association's Environment and Housing Board, anticipated that the group would probably need to meet twice a week to reach its conclusions by Summer, 2013.

He said: "It is a massive task – one which urgently needs tackling if we are to have clearer and economically efficient planning guidance without a surfeit of regulations, confusion and contradiction.

"Many of the current mountainous pile of policies date back to the early nineties and are plainly out of date. It is no exaggeration to suggest that as much as 95% of present guidance could be revoked."

Involvement in planning reform has not prevented Councillor Jones speaking out recently against his Government’s suggestions to kick start the building industry by relaxing planning regulations governing the size of house extensions.

(CD)