A guide to planning
Planning applications include applications for: • • • • planning permission listed buildings and conservation area consent advertisement consent work to protected trees
Who decides planning applications? Such applications are decided by the Planning Committee of Rother District Council, which is the Local Planning Authority, or are delegated to the Head of Planning. If there is a material objection or if a District Councillor requests, a delegated decision will be referred back to the Planning Committee. Planning applications must be decided within eight weeks of receipt. Developments involving some agricultural or forestry buildings, the erection of some mobile phone masts and demolition are permitted development and are said to have Prior Approval. This means they do not need planning permission. The developer must give notice to the Local Planning Authority, which will have 28 or 56 days to indicate whether it wishes to approve, amend or reject the application. However, the Local Planning Authority would have to put forward very strong arguments against such proposals and developers in effect can ignore the Local Planning Authority. In Rother District Council, Prior Approval applications are delegated to the Head of Planning. Permitted development rights do not apply in a Conservation Area, AONB or National Park. However, Rother District Council Planning Committee appears loath to exercise their powers against such developments, particularly in the case of mobile phone masts. What role does the Parish Council have in planning decisions? Parish Councils have the right in law to be notified of planning applications in the Parish but do not have the right to be consulted. In other words, the Local Planning Authority must take account of any representations made by the Parish Council, but only to the same extent that they must take account of representations of other bodies and individuals. One privilege that the Parish Council may have is that representations made after the deadline for comments but at least 12 days before the relevant Planning Committee meeting will be passed to the Committee orally and representations made before 9:00am on the day before the Committee meets may be reported to the Committee at the discretion of the Chairman. Parish Councils are notified of local planning applications so that local people can be informed and are able to know what is (and what is not) an authorised development. Local people may also be able to supply information which might be useful in deciding applications and which is unknown to the Local Planning Authority. 1
How planning decisions are made In deciding a planning application, a Local Planning Authority must follow the decisionmaking process laid down by the government in various laws and planning documents (see the Appendix). The Local Planning Authority is a quasi-judicial body, whose actions can be challenged if their decisions are not objective and made within these rules. At the moment, the key planning document is the Local Development Plan (LDP). This is the starting point for planning decisions. If a Local Planning Authority decides to not to follow the LDP, it must notify the Secretary of State, who can intervene. The LDP can be overridden by the material considerations of an application, particularly if there are conflicting policies within the LDP. A material consideration is any use and development of land that has an impact on the public interest and is specific to the application being considered. In other words, the planning system is not intended to protect the private interests of one person against the activities of another. Indeed, a planning applicant has a right to permission unless his application is contrary to the LDP or would cause demonstrable harm to public interests of acknowledged importance, in other words, developments that would unacceptably affect amenities and the existing use of land and buildings which ought to be protected in the public interest. Material considerations include: • • • • • • • • • • • • • number, size, layout, siting, design and external appearance of buildings proposed means of access landscaping impact on the neighbourhood availability of infrastructure the impact on Conservation Areas and AONBs the environmental quality of the surrounding area, the visual character of a street and the amenity or privacy of dwellings road safety, access, car parking and traffic generation public services such drainage loss of trees noise, disturbance and smells public or other proposals for using the same land case law and previous planning decisions
Material considerations do not include: • • • • the fact that an application is retrospective competition for existing businesses other than at a strategic level (eg when the vitality of a town is threatened by an out-of-town supermarket) moral objections loss of an attractive private view (however, loss of residential amenity, privacy and public views are material considerations)
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property values ownership (you do not have to be the owner of the land for which you are making an application) covenants personal matters the impact of construction work other legislation (eg health and safety).
The weight to be given to different material considerations is determined by government guidance. However, this guidance cannot override the material considerations in a particular case. If a Local Planning Authority decides not to follow government guidance, it must explain its decision. A Local Planning Authority can impose conditions on planning permission, but only if planning permission would have to be refused if the condition were not imposed. In the case of Listed Building consent, the Local Planning Authority must take into account the acceptability or otherwise of the works in terms of the character of the building as one of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. On the other hand, matters such as access, drainage or loss of daylight are not normally relevant to the character of a listed building. Trees The Local Planning Authority can impose a Tree Protection Order on a tree. This makes it an offence to prune, fell, wilfully damage or wilfully destroy a protected tree without permission from the Local Planning Authority. However, there are many exemptions: where a tree is dead, dying or dangerous. In this case, the Local Planning Authority is supposed to be given five days notice but this condition can be ignored in an emergency. Trees felled because they are dead, dying or dangerous must be replaced. Anyone proposing to do work to a tree in a Conservation Area must give six weeks notice to the Local Planning Authority so that it can impose a Tree Protection Order if it wishes. Local Planning Authorities have a duty to ensure that adequate provision is made for the preservation and planting of trees when granting planning permission by imposing conditions and making Tree Preservation Orders. How can you find out about local planning applications? Rother District Council gives 21 days notice of planning applications (it is only obliged by law to give 14 days notice). A Weekly List is issued every Tuesday. It can be viewed on www.planning.rother.gov.uk. Pink notices are also fixed to the property. Planning enforcement Carrying out building work without planning permission is not, in most case, illegal. The Local Planning Authority has to make a judgement as to whether the development causes such harm that it is ‘expedient’ to take action.
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On the other hand, unauthorised alterations to Listed Buildings and demolition in a Conservation Area are criminal offences. Advertisements erected without consent can also lead to prosecution. Local Planning Authorities will only take rapid action against development without planning permission in a few circumstances, eg work to protected trees or a breach of a planning condition, and if the breach is very clear. In such cases, the Local Planning Authority can issue a Breach of Condition Notice against which there is no appeal. Typically, however, Local Planning Authorities will issue an Enforcement Notice. These are subject to appeal to the ODPM and action may take several months to complete. Moreover, failure to comply with a Notice (at least after it has been upheld by a planning inspector in the event of an appeal) has to be enforced in the courts. Local Planning Authorities like Rother District Council are very reluctant to incur legal costs. Further information For more detail about planning applications, read Rother District Council’s Guide to Development Control Practice for Town and Parish Councils, which is available at www.planning.rother.gov.uk.
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Appendix
Planning law and guidance
• • • • • • Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) --- soon to be replaced by Planning Policy Statements (PPS) --- which are supposed to give practical guidance on planning policies and are issued by central government. ODPM Circulars giving advice on the meaning and effect of legislation and are issued by central government. White Papers such as the Transport White Paper, and the Rural and Urban White Papers. Policy Statements such as the Communities Plan. Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) --- soon to be replaced by Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) --- which provide a broad development strategy for at least the next 15 years for the region and are issued by regional assemblies. RSS will include Regional Economic Strategies (RES) and may include Regional Waste Management Strategies, Regional Mineral Strategies, Regional Tourism Strategies and Regional Energy Efficiency Strategies, all of which are prepared by Regional Development Agencies. Sub-Regional Strategies --- which supplement the RPG/RSS for special areas such as the Sussex Coastal Towns. County Structure Plan and Local Development Plan issued by the County Council and District Council, respectively --- soon to be replaced by the Local Development Framework, which is a portfolio of Local Development Documents, including Development Planning Documents (consisting of a Core Strategy, Site Specific Allocations and Policies, Proposals Maps, Generic Policies and Area Action Plans for areas of change), Supplementary Planning Documents (non-statutory design guides and development briefs) and a Statement of Community Involvement (an explanation of how the community will be involved in the preparation of LDDs). The LDF is supposed to provide the landuse and development plan for meeting the objectives of Community Strategies, which sets out a long-term vision for improving the quality of local life. Community Strategies are prepared by the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) of public, private, community and voluntary sectors.
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