In the past year, district councils made a total of 207,000 planning decisions – up 3.5% in the last 12 months alone. This has been the trajectory for the past four to five years. District councils cover 67% of England's areas and give consent to almost every other new home built in England.

Our district councils play a fundamental enabling role for new housing and commercial developments while balancing our aspirations for the environment as well as that of builders and communities. It's a difficult and often controversial task that has never been under more scrutiny by applicants and objectors – especially as investments in IT and online portals have rightly made it possible for more people to actively participate in the democratic planning process.