| Local councils: handling planning consultations |
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When consulted over planning proposals by the local planning authority (LPA) local (ie parish and town) councils usually have a very limited period in which to respond. This guidance note provides some pointers to help local councils to respond effectively and efficiently.
Unless a local council or its committees are meeting very frequently, it is rarely possible to ensure that all consultations can be handled through the regular calendar of meetings. It is therefore advisable for local councils to put in place agreed procedures for handling such ‘urgent business’ between meetings. Because these procedures will commit the council to a specific decision or point-of-view, the procedures must comply with legal requirements and any standing orders which the council had adopted.
A council may lawfully delegate a very wide range of decision-making to an officer, a committee, or even to another council. The delegation provision may include (if appropriate) a requirement for the officer or committee to consult with others before reaching a decision. For most local councils, the officer is the clerk. However it is lawful for a local council to create an unpaid officer role specifically to handle planning matters, which may be undertaken by a council member. Where a council appoints a Planning Committee (or similar), meetings of the committee must be open to the public and press, and advertised, as for full council meetings.
It is important that local councils’ responses are well-informed, in addition to being ‘material’ to the planning system. This may well require an officer of the council to research the background to a particular site or proposal, before the council considers the merits and reaches a conclusion.
The use of email is now an effective means of enabling members of a local council to share opinions and raise questions, before the ‘formal view’ of the council is finalised.
Members who have a prejudicial interest should not take part in the council’s deliberations, even if these deliberations take place in a ‘virtual’ way, including email, or via the circulation of a ‘comments form’.
Normally, the written notes and comments through which councillors contribute to the process will potentially be available for public scrutiny, under the Freedom of Information Act.
It is advisable for local councils to retain their ‘official’ planning records for a period of years, in case there are follow-up applications, or enforcement issues.
Increasingly, local councils are preparing their own planning policies, usually following input from the wider community, to provide a clearer and more-consistent basis on which they may respond to planning consultations. In many cases, these policies have formed part of a parish plan, village appraisal, or other community-led plan. |