As an architect, I have to say this: a free-for-all unregulated approach would result in some twisted Cummingsland fantasy. It would also risk reducing your democratic right to fight certain projects at committee level. #WATON https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ill-take-axe-to-planning-laws-says-cummings-bwn5j3b88

Incidentally, Johnson made liberal use of the planning law to impose his view via the GLA while mayor. It wasn’t a problem then.

Planning is a difficult issue. The built environment we live in is a balance between the inventive, the harmonious, the outrageous, even the boring. Like a finely spiced dish. Too much of any ingredient quickly turns it unpalatable.

Many people only look at the personal, negative side of planning where it affects their own home. But the cumulative effect is shaping the realm of everyone in society. Often planners object on behalf of constituents, even if they personally like a project.

This forces developers and designers to dig deep to make their case. Which - although sometimes exasperating for them - can actually form a process of checks and balances. It can of course go wrong if planners misuse their powers, but this is not an issue of planning law per se.