Commenting on Planning Applications
The Council welcomes the views of local residents and interest groups on planning applications. They will often be able to bring new factors to our attention and add to the quality of the decision made.
Before Making Comments:
If you wish to comment on a planning application, the following points will help you. Before making any comments to the Council:
- have a look at the application, either at the Customer Service Centre, or by making arrangements with the applicant or agent or via the Council's Online Planning Information webpages.
- if you have difficulty reading plans, ask for assistance at the Customer Service Centre - staff will be pleased to help.
- if you are elderly or infirm, arrangements can be made to visit you at your home to explain the plans to you.
- the Planning Officer dealing with the application can be contacted on the telephone, to discuss the proposals. Contact details are available on the Development Control Team page.
- consider discussing any concerns you may have with the proposal with the applicant. If you are neighbours you may find that the applicant will wish to amend their proposals if at all possible to accommodate you. Try to see the proposal from your neighbour's point of view. Consider their needs, too. Most people do wish to remain on good terms with their neighbours, and a compromise may be in both parties' interests.
There are a number of ways to make your comments to the Council
Writing a letter
- make sure that your letter gets to the Council within the press publicity period for the relevant application - this date will be given on the various forms of notification. The Council is not obliged to take account of letters received outside this period, though will normally do so.
- keep your letter as clear and concise as you can, avoid personal comments and stick to matters that the planning process exists to control - for example the value of your property is not a planning matter, but any effect on your amenities is (you may wish to speak to the relevant Planning Officer if you are in any doubt on the scope of planning matters).
Ward Councillors speaking at a Committee Meeting
- details of your Ward Councillors are available at the Customer Service Centre or on the Council's website at www.ipswich.gov.uk/council+information/councillors.
- it must be your own Ward Councillor that speaks on your behalf. Neighbouring Ward Councillors can only speak if their Ward is directly affected.
- remember, it is up to the Councillor whether or not he or she speaks on your behalf. They are not obliged to speak. You cannot expect that the Councillor will necessarily agree with your view - they may, they may not. They may disagree so fundamentally with your view that they would not feel able to personally represent that view. Alternatively, they may be prepared to represent your view to the Committee, on the basis that it does not necessarily represent their own views.
- Members of the Planning and Development Committee often prefer not to speak on behalf of constituents at Committee. If they do speak, they will make their position clear at the outset at Committee, and are not allowed to vote on the proposal.
- a Ward Councillor may speak once only on an item, for a period of not more than 7 minutes. If the application is deferred for any reason, the Ward Councillor may not speak again at the later meeting.
- applications cannot be deferred to enable Ward Councillors to attend - the Council is expected to deal with applications within an 8 week period.
- remember that not all applications go to Committee, some are dealt with under powers delegated to the Head of Planning, Transport and Regeneration. Therefore any requests for consideration at Committee need to be made within the Press Publicity period. Requests are not automatically agreed to, it depends upon the case in question and the nature and volume of objections.
Speaking at Committee yourself, or having a representative, friend or neighbour speak.
- the Planning and Development Committee will receive one presentation in support of a proposal, and one against, from interested parties.
- the presentation must last for no more than 5 minutes.
- in the event that the application is deferred for any reason, a further presentation is not permitted.
- persons wishing to speak should present themselves to the Committee Clerk at least 10 minutes before the meeting is due to start. You will be asked to fill in a form recording your interest in the matter.
- the application will be heard as near as possible to the beginning of the meeting. The Planning Officer will present the proposals first of all. Speakers will then be asked, in turn, to step up the Committee table and to give their presentation. They should then return to the public gallery.
- if more than one person wishes to speak either for or against an application, the parties will be asked to nominate one person to represent them. If an agreement cannot be reached the Chair may decide to split the 5 minutes between the speakers or not to hear any party on either side.
- again, remember that not all applications go to Committee, so this option is only available for those that do.
Persons wishing to address the Committee are advised to contact the Planning Officer to check on Committee arrangements. The Council will notify you of the date and time of the relevant Committee meeting provided you have advised the Head of Planning, Transport and Regeneration in writing that you wish to speak. You may also request that a copy of the Officer’s report is sent to you.
Should I organise a petition?
That is for you to decide. All petitions will be notified to the Committee members. Members may give greater weight to the views expressed in individually prepared letters, since they are a better reflection of personal concerns. However petitions are often of value, say, in a community that is not used to expressing its views in writing to the Council.
Does it matter how my views are represented?
You must decide this yourself, but remember that the Council deals with over a thousand applications of different sorts every year, and that the planning system is now well established. Decisions are required to be in accordance with the Council's legal powers and in accordance with government timetables. They must also accord with the Council's own policies published in the Development Plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Councillors and Officers are trained and skilled at evaluating the planning merits of proposals. Essentially the Council's role has to be to deliver the RIGHT decision, not to respond to the person who "shouts loudest". Therefore we aim to ensure that it does not matter which method you use to make your views known - ALL views will be carefully taken into account and judged on their own merits.
What happens once the decision is made:
- persons who have written to the Council will be notified of the outcome in writing. With regard to petitions, the organiser will be informed.
- if an application is refused permission, the applicant may lodge an appeal to the relevant Government department. If this occurs interested parties will be notified as a matter of course and invited to comment again. If an application is approved there is no possibility of an appeal to prevent the development from proceeding. Very rarely court action can be taken over the way in which a decision was made which can effectively cancel the decision out, but this is a matter solicitors will need to advise on, and has significant cost implications.
- if you feel that the Council has handled the application badly you may complain through the Council's Complaints Procedure - please ask for a leaflet. If, following this, you are still not happy you may complain to the Local Government Ombudsman. Please remember though, that these procedures exist to ensure that the proper procedures are followed, not to question the judgement of Councillors or Officers who took into account all relevant facts.
- if the application was not determined the way you would have wished, try to understand how it was looked at by the Council. Officers are available to talk matters through with you. The Planning and Development service is committed to best practise, and receives high satisfaction ratings through its public consultation exercises, so even if you cannot agree with the decision made we would hope to convince you of our professional approach and integrity.
Correspondence Address:
Planning, Transport and Regeneration
Ipswich Borough Council
Grafton House
15-17 Russell Road
Ipswich IP1 2DE.
Telephone: 01473 432913
Fax: 01473 432974
Email: development.control@ipswich.gov.uk