Issue - meetings

      Report by Chief Executive Officer – Terence Herbert

Cllr Toby Sturgis Cabinet Member for Spatial Planning, Development Management and Property presented the report which provided detail about how the Council will engage with the community and stakeholders on planning matters.

Cllr Sturgis explained that the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) is a statutory document that must be reviewed every five years, the current version was updated in July 2015, and although it generally remains fit for purpose, further legislative changes have been made and needed to be considered, along with improvements to the format.  Also, in the light of COVID-19, temporary arrangements for the SCI also need to be put in place to allow plan-making and decision making to continue by reasonably practical means while ensuring Government guidance about controlling its spread can be adhered to.

The Cabinet noted that the SCI would allow communities, stakeholders and the public to understand how to participate in planning matters and it has been written in a format to provide information about when engagement will take place, how it will take place and how comments made will be used. The SCI takes into consideration communication and engagement through social media and digital platforms, as well as more traditional methods and reflects the desire of the Council to encourage people to engage in place shaping for their communities through early engagement in plan making and on planning applications.

In response to comments and questions from Cllr Thorn about the inclusion of families with children who work as a hard to reach group and improvements to pre-application consultations undertaken by developers with local communities; Cllr Sturgis agreed to meet with Cllr Thorn to consider whether further clarification/guidance should be made in the SCI and agreed that pre submission consultation undertaken by developers is variable and Councils would need assistance from government to raise the standard.  

Resolved:

1.     Approves the Statement of Community Involvement as set out in Appendix 1.

2.     Approves the Statement of Community Involvement ‘Temporary Arrangements’ as set out in Appendix 2.

3.     Recommends to 21 July 2020 Full Council that the Statement of Community Involvement and Temporary Arrangements, as set out in (i) and (ii) above are adopted.

4.     Recommends that Full Council, delegates authority to the Director for Economic Development and Planning in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Spatial Planning, Development Management and Property to: make amendments to (i) and (ii) in the interests of clarity and accuracy before publishing it on the Council’s website; and determine when the Temporary Arrangements in (ii) cease to have effect.

Reason for Decision:

To ensure that a revised SCI is in place that meets legislative requirements, is

up to date and fit for purpose. Alongside adoption of the SCI, temporary arrangements will need to be in place, until they are no longer needed, due to

the COVID-19 situation to ensure community involvement continues to take

place in a safe way.