A CALL to replace BCP Council’s single planning committee with one for each of the area’s three towns has been rejected.

Christchurch Independent councillor Margaret Phipps made the request at Tuesday’s meeting of the council, saying the existing system ignored the “distinctive and diverse nature” of each town.

But her suggestion was narrowly voted down over concerns it would be “cumbersome, costly and time-consuming”.

The idea had been considered prior to the formation of the council in 2019 and the idea had been raised by Cllr Phipps during her time as the cabinet member for planning.

However, its consideration was left to a working group already carrying out a review of the council’s constitution.

The group’s findings were put before councillors on Tuesday but Cllr Phipps sought to introduce separate planning committees.

She called for a “full investigation” into their feasibility, saying the effectiveness of a single one was “not proven”.

“The current system of one planning committee, is I believe, unsatisfactory because some decisions taken have clearly failed to take into account the distinctive and diverse nature of each town and their individuality,” she said.

She pointed to neighbouring Dorset Council which has area committees. They sit below an overarching strategic committee but decide on planning applications in their area.

But the idea was dismissed by the chairman of BCP Council’s committee who said he believed the existing approach worked.

“I have faith that every member of my planning board is able to look at a planning application and deal with it based on what is in front of them,” councillor David Kelsey said.

“Having three separate committees is cumbersome, it’s costly and it’s time-consuming.

“We will soon have a local plan covering the whole of BCP – we really do need to move away from looking at the three separate areas in three separate ways.”

He was backed by the new cabinet member for planning, councillor Phil Broadhead, who said it was the job of planning committee members to objectively determine proposals based on policy.

He said he “really struggled” to see how the Dorset Council approach could be introduced across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Cllr Phipps’ proposal was narrowly defeated by 38 votes to 36.

A spokesman for the Christchurch Independents said they would now lead a borough-wide, cross-party initiative investigate the feasibility of area planning committees.

They added that they would work with Christchurch Town Council, the area’s parish councils and residents organisations and were considering hiring a planning consultant to lead the project.