Planning

The Planning Committee

The Parish Council’s Planning Committee is made up by an elected Chairman and Vice Chairman, and consists of all but one of the members of the entire Parish Council. The Committee is responsible for reviewing all Planning and Tree Applications from within the Parish received by the District Council’s Planning Department.

When taking up their term of office, all new members of the Parish Council’s Planning Committee were given an induction package to assist them in understanding of their new responsibilities in this field of activity.

The first responsibility was to understand that they are to represent the views of the community and to ensure that the proposed Application is not going to be detrimental to the site in question and its immediate surroundings. In this respect the Parish Council encourage members of the public to attend the meetings of the Planning Committee to have their say and listen to the deliberations of the committee. The second responsibility is that the adopted Village Design Statement is complied with as far as practical.

 

The Planning Process – how it works

Planning Applications are administered and decided upon by New Forest District Council.  After a planning application is made to the District Council, they will produce a press advert and write to neighbouring properties asking for their views on the proposals. They will also publish all the details on the planning section of their website. The District Council will also consult with other bodies such as Natural England, the Highways Authority at Hampshire County Council and Southern Gas, as well as the Parish Council.

The District Council will assign a Case Officer to the application, who will visit the site to assess the application, display a site notice and take photographs. In addition they will research the history of the site and will consider the relevant issues.  The Case Officer will then produce a report which is made available on their website.

When the Parish Council is notified of a new application in the village, this will be added onto a monthly Parish List of all applications for the area, to be discussed at the next Planning Committee meeting.  These meeting are held monthly, usually on the first Monday of every month in the Village Hall at 6.30pm.  A full list of meeting dates is available on the Parish Council’s website – click here.  In addition, the agenda for each planning meeting and the Parish List are published on the Parish Council’s website as well as on the four main noticeboards around the village – the window of the Parish Office at 22 High Street, the village green, the village hall and Keyhaven car park.

Members of the public can come along to a parish Planning Meeting and can speak for up to three minutes on specific planning application if they so wish, or ask a question or they can just listen to the debate if they prefer.

The Committee’s findings – classified as ‘observations’ – are reached following a structured but open debate, concluded by a democratic vote. The results are formally passed to the District Council’s Planning Department in the form of an Observation, which must fall under one of the following categories:

PAR1: Recommend PERMISSION but would accept the decision reached by the DC Officers under their delegated powers.
PAR2: Recommend REFUSAL but would accept the decision reached by the DC Officers under their delegated powers.
PAR3: Recommend PERMISSION.
PAR4: Recommend REFUSAL.
PAR5: Happy to accept the decision reached by the DC Officers under their delegated powers.

When taking up their term of office, all new members of the Parish Council’s Planning Committee were offered training to assist them in understanding of their new responsibilities in this field of activity.

The first responsibility was to understand that they are to represent the views of the community and to ensure that the proposed Application is not going to be detrimental to the site in question and its immediate surroundings. In this respect the Parish Council encourage members of the public to attend the meetings of the Planning Committee to have their say and listen to the deliberations of the committee. The second responsibility is that the adopted Village Design Statement is complied with as far as practical.

After voting on an application, the Parish Council will then lodge its comments with the District Council. If the District Council’s Planning Officers disagree with the Parish Council’s observations, then the Planning Application has to be referred to the District Council’s Development Control Committee, which consists of representatives from all political affiliations.

Members of the public are also welcome to comment directly to the District Council, which they do through the planning pages of the District Council’s website.

Most applications are determined by District Council Officers using delegated powers. This means that an application accords with policy, the local Parish/Town Council do not have a contrary view and District Councillors have not asked for the matter to be considered by Planning Development Control Committee. The District Council will issue the decision together with any conditions imposed and place it on their website. They do not notify those who showed an interest in an application about the decision.

If an application is recommended to Committee it will be placed on the first available agenda. The public can attend the meeting and listen to the debate.

When a decision on an application is made, the District Council will notify the outcome to the applicant and the Parish Council and this will be reported verbally at the next Parish Planning Committee meeting.

 

Click here  for Planning Committee Agendas

Click here  for Planning Committee Minutes

Click here  for details of planning applications in the Parish