Can Calderdale Council Cabinet members take a view on planning proposals?

There’s some discussion about whether Councillors are allowed to state their position on a proposed development, if they will later be involved in a decision about the planning application for the development.

Basically planning protocol seems to be that it’s ok for a Councillor to be predisposed one way or another, as long as they keep an open mind before the meeting/decision. It’s also ok for them to predetermine their position, ie either for or against – but in that case they can’t vote on the planning application.

This is info from the ‘What do they know? Planning protocol for Councillors and Officers’ webpage:

” a councillor may be predisposed on a matter before it comes to Committee, provided they remain open to listening to all the arguments and changing their mind in light of all the information presented at the meeting. Nevertheless, a councillor in this position will always be judged against an objective test of whether the reasonable onlooker, with knowledge of the relevant facts, would consider that the councillor was biased…

“If a councillor has predetermined their position, they should withdraw from being a member of the decision-making body for that matter. This would apply to any member of the Planning Committee who wanted to speak for or against a proposal, as a campaigner (for example on a proposal within their ward). If the Council rules allow substitutes to the meeting, this could be an appropriate option .”

This seems to be borne out by Calderdale Councillor and Cabinet member Adam WIlkinson’s support for the campaign to stop the Ryburn small waste incinerator. Cllr Wilkinson represents Sowerby Bridge and has campaigned for years against the proposed incinerator. When the decision on the incinerator’s environmental permit application came to Cabinet in 2021, he was allowed to speak in Cabinet about his views, but unable to vote as he’d already stated his oppostion and Cllrs aren’t allowed to vote if their view is already predetermined before the discussion/vote.

A final point is that the Nolan Committee’s 1997 report
stated:

“It is essential for the proper operation
of the planning system that local concerns
are adequately ventilated. The most effective
and suitable way that this can be done is
through the local elected representatives, the
councillors themselves”.