ABSTRACT
Ian Gatenby & Christopher Williams have highlighted in Chapter 9 the duty of the decision-maker in applying relevant weight to policy considerations in planning decisions. “The decision-maker” is a term that can easily apply to an individual within the local planning authority. But it is also applicable to the two sets of actors within planning, both of whom are responsible for taking decisions on behalf of the authority as a whole. Although the duty of the decision-maker is broadly set out by legislation, legal cases and government policy, it is not always clear how the actorsmembers and officers-identify their roles in the policyand decision-making environment. Britain’s system of local government is founded on the principle of representative democracy. Although the functions of a council democratically rests with locally elected councillors, the management and running of these activities is delegated to paid officers. The relationship between members and officers in the planning system is an interesting and somewhat under-assessed area of examination.
