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Surely the big difference between planning and building control is that approved inspectors decide themselves whether something is OK or not, but for planning it's the elected councillors for anything medium sized or contentious.

Are councillors really going to trust the judgement of private planning consultants? I'd have thought they would have their suspicions raised that the applicant was trying to pull a fast one - that's certainly what people objecting to an application will say when putting pressure on members.

Whatever we might think about some LA planning officers at least councillors will generally trust their integrity. I'd worry that going with a private consultant there'd be an increased risk of greater politicisation of the decision process which would be more likely to work in the favour of angry neighbours lobbying their councillors.