Require that all elected members who sit on Planning Committees in the UK receive a basic, perhaps standardised, level of training in the principles of Town and Country Planning and relevant legislation.
Elected members with no formal / standardised training on the principles of Town and Country Planning are determining planning applications, regularly against the advice of their own planning officers and legal counsel, due to a lack of understanding of basic planning principles, and it is now unduly, prejudicing the UK taxpayer in order to fight subsequent appeals on committee members behalf's. Furthermore, growth and economic prosperity / recovery are inherently being hindered.