Planning News

Read the Planning Portal weekly news summary covering planning in the UK.

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Planning Survey 2006

North Norfolk District Council's Planning Division wants to know what local people think of its service so that further improvements can be made.

About 500 planning applicants who received a planning decision between 3 April and 29 September 2006, will be contacted by post and asked how satisfied they were with the service. The short survey questionnaire will also ask them how regularly they submit planning applications to the Council.

Although it is a requirement of the Government that we conduct this survey, we are nevertheless, very keen to hear the views of recent planning applicants. We need the feedback to help us identify any weaknesses in the service and to help us make the necessary improvements to our service.

Anyone who receives the survey form is asked to complete and return it (in the enclosed pre-paid envelope) by Tuesday 31st October.

Information received by the Council will be treated in the strictest confidence and used only to monitor the planning service. Responses, with names removed, may be passed on to the Department for Communities and Local Government so that national patterns of satisfaction with planning functions can be studied.

For more information about the planning survey, please contact Lorraine Gray on 01263 516129 or e-mail lgray@north-norfolk.gov.uk.

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Statement of Forthcoming (Changes in Planning) Regulations 2006 (an ODPM document)

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North Norfolk Supermarket Planning Application Results
(from a Joint Development Control Committee meeting held on 14 September 2005)

CROMER - 20030855 - Erection of extension to retail store (Use Class A1), removal of condition 5 of planning permission 01/981138 to allow use of crèche as coffee shop, alterations to existing car park, new sprinkler tank and other associated works; Morrison Supermarket Holt Road for WM Morrison PLC
• Conditional Approval

FAKENHAM - 20031947 - Erection of A1 foodstore with associated car parking, road access and services yard and related highway improvements; former Aldiss factory, land west of Oak Street for Tesco Stores Limited
• Delegated Conditional Approval + Section 106 Agreement

SHERINGHAM - 20030991 - Demolition of buildings, including dwellings and erection of A1 retail foodstore with associated access, car parking, services and landscaping, Land at Cromer Road for Tesco Stores Limited
• Delegated Authority to Refuse

WELLS-NEXT-THE-SEA - 20001077 - Erection of foodstore with car park, services yard and petrol filling station at 84 Freeman Street for Budgens Stores Limited
• Delegated Conditional Approval + Section 106 Agreement

Details may be found in the Register of Applications pages. Search using the application number..

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Changes to the Development Control system

Part 4 of the Planning and Compensation Act 2004 contains provisions to speed up the operation of the Planning system and the relevant provisions were brought into
effect on 24 August 2005. The changes are set out in this ODPM Circular (467KB in PDF format).

The main changes may be summarised as follows:

Power to Decline to Determine Repeat Planning Applications
Local Planning Authorities already have statutory powers to decline to determine applications which are the same, or substantially the same, as an application previously refused and where an appeal has been dismissed within the last two years.

This power to decline to determine so-called "repeat" applications is now extended to applications for listed building consent, conservation area consent and prior approval applications and to applications where there has been no appeal on at least two previous refusals in the past two years, although Local Planning Authorities should only use this power where (to quote the ODPM Circular) "they believe that the applicant is trying to wear down opposition by submitting repeated applications".

Duration of Planning Permission
The life of new planning permissions will be shortened from 5 to 3 years with similar changes for listed building consent and conservation area consent.

Outline permission will be time-limited so that development will have to be commenced within 2 years of from the date of the final approval of reserved matters, rather than 5 years from the date of the outline permission.

The previous statutory provision which allowed developers to apply to extend the lifespan of a permission by an application to vary the relevant condition (Section 73 of Town and Country Planning Act 1990) is no longer in force. To give developers time to adjust to this new regime, for permissions granted prior to 24 August 2005, the developer will retain until 23 August 2006 the ability to seek to extend the time-limit for commencement.

Duty to Respond to Consultation
Statutory consultees are now under a duty to respond within 21 days upon being consulted on a planning application and are also required to report annually to the Secretary of State on their performance in meeting this deadline. The remaining provisions of this part of the Act are less likely to impact on the routine work of the Committees but require Local Planning Authorities to consult Regional Planning Bodies on planning applications which may impact on the implementation of the Regional Spatial Strategy.

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Proposals for Community Involvement in Planning Applications

We have always strongly encouraged pre-application discussions with planning officers for all planning applications, and in our Statement of Community Involvement, submitted to the Secretary of State in September, we have proposed that developers should also carry out pre-application discussions with the community, for major applications.

This is our proposal -

• Pre-application discussions for major applications
  In the case of major applications the Council believes that potential developers should engage with the wider community before submitting an application. Early public involvement on major applications will benefit everyone by ensuring that schemes are well understood by the community and so that local people can help to shape the outcome of proposals which are likely to affect them significantly. Developers stand to benefit from swifter processing of any subsequent planning application and the early exchange of information about the development is likely to produce a scheme that fits better into its local environment.
  
• What is a major application?
  Major applications are defined as housing developments comprising 10 or more dwellings or consideration of the principle of residential development on a site of at least 0.5ha. They also include other developments with a floor area of more than 1,000sq.m or with a site area of 1ha or more.
  
• What is expected from developers?
  Where a major application is proposed, applicants will be expected to undertake pre-application community engagement tailored to reflect the nature and scale of proposed development, this could include site notices, public meetings etc.

See our SCI page to find out more about our Statement of Community Interest.

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