Planning consultations
Voicing your opinion
The Council has a duty under the planning legislation to
publicise all planning applications. This can be done through
notifying owners of adjoining land, posting site notices, newspaper
advertisements or a combination of these. We take into account any
opinions expressed in writing to their full degree in relation to
planning legislation.
Making your views known
You may inspect the documents and plans at the Planning and
Regulation Service offices. Any comments that you wish to make must
be made in writing to the Head of Planning and Regulation.
These will be reported to the appropriate officer when the
application is considered. All comments must be relevant to the
application and must relate to planning matters.
Due to the volume of replies received on applications, it is not
possible to report all letters fully but a summary of the points
raised will be made in writing within the officer’s report. The
letters will be available to committee members at the meeting if
the application goes before a planning committee. It is important
that you make any comments within 21 days as we can determine
certain types of application if no objections are received at the
end of the publicity period.
You can comment by letter or email.
Making an objection
Anyone can object to a planning application whether or not they
are a resident. All objections must be made in writing and must be
relevant to planning issues that the Council has to consider. These
issues include, but are not limited to:
- The Council's published planning policies in the Unitary
Development Plan
- Government planning guidance
- Scale
- Privacy
- Highway safety and congestion
- Noise
- Disturbance
- Air pollution
- Design
- Appearance
- Layout
- Conservation of buildings
- Effects on trees and amenity
Issues that are considered not relevant include, but are not
limited to:
- Matters covered by other laws (such as alcohol
license)
- Private property rights (such as boundary or access
disputes)
- Loss of view
- Effects on property values
- Possible future development
- Trade competition
Your letter will be placed on the relevant planning application
file, which is open to public inspection. The planning officer
dealing with the case will consider your views and take account of
them in a written report, which is open to public inspection.
Determining applications
Applications determined by the Delegation scheme (such as
applications for extensions and/or alterations) are dealt with by a
Planning Officer who makes a recommendation for a particular
decision. This file is then passed to the Head of Development
Control and the Head of Planning and Regulation Services who have
the final decision. Larger applications or applications
affecting local residents are put before Township Planning
Committees and on some occasions more controversial applications
may have to be referred to the central Regulatory Committee for
final determination.
At the Committee meeting
When an application goes to one of the Township Planning
Committees for a decision, a written report is produced for the
Committee by the planning officer which summarises the planning
issues and makes a recommendation. Approximately a week
before the Committee meeting we will also notify all
correspondents, applicants, or their agents, whose proposals are
being considered.
You are welcome to attend the Committee and you will be
allowed to address the Committee members. It is entirely at your
discretion as to whether you take the opportunity to speak. If
there is more than one objector to an application then normally the
Chairman of the Committee will allow only one person to speak in
view of the limited time available. Consequently objectors may get
together to make a joint case covering all the points that each
individual wishes to make. The applicant will also have the
opportunity to address the Committee after the objectors have put
their views. The members of the Committee may ask questions of each
speaker after they have spoken. The Committee members will then
debate the merits of the application and decision will be made.
The decision
The Council can grant permission, with appropriate conditions if
necessary, or refuse the application. In applying planning
conditions or refusing an application, the Council must give
adequate reasons based on relevant planning issues. Anyone
who has submitted comments to the Council will be notified of the
decision details within seven days of that decision.
Appeal
If the Council refuses planning permission or imposes conditions
which the applicant considers are unreasonable, then the applicant
may appeal to the Secretary of State for the Environment. If this
happens then you will be notified again and invited to put your
views to the Inspector who will be appointed by the Secretary of
State to make a final decision.
Planning
Inspectorate
Objecting to a decision
Should an objector feel that they have been misrepresented, or
the council has done an inadequate job of making the decision,
objectors may appeal to the Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsman can
only deal with cases of unfair administration and similar. Details
of the role of the Ombudsman, and a leaflet detailing when and how
the Ombudsman can become involved can be obtained from their
website.
Local Government Ombudsman