Participants in Planning

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Participants in Planning

• Penri James
• 2007-08

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Participants
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Statutory consultees

• Environment Agency
• Highway Authority
• Neighbours
• Listed Buildings
• English Heritage
• Cadw
• Historic Scotland
• Conservation
• Natural England
• Countryside Council of Wales
• Scottish Natural Heritage

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Environment Agency

• Main source of planning advice on
• water resources and water quality
• waste and landfill
• flood risk
• pollution prevention
• biodiversity
• foul and surface water drainage
• Objection to application is a de facto veto on
  development
• Increasing influence on development on flood
  plains
• Increased flood risk due to climate change (link)
• Capacity of sewerage infrastructure frequently
  cited

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Highway authority

• Impact of development on transport infrastructure
  
• Provide advice to Planning Officers, Members and
  Developers on planning applications
• Advice based on national policy statements,
  TAN.s, PANs and Good Practice Guides
• Local Authority Highways Department
• Highways Agency

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Conservation (Environment) Bodies

• Effect of planning application on environment
  particularly in proximity to SSSI and SAC
• Natural England
• Countryside Council for Wales
• Scottish Natural Heritage

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Conservation (Building) Bodies

• Statutory responsibilities on Listed Buildings
  and Scheduled Ancient Monuments
• English Heritage
• Cadw
• Historic Scotland

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Listed buildings

• Set up under Section 1 of the Planning (Listed
  Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• Requires government to draw up a List of
  Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic
  Interest

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Listed buildings

• Assessment of structures undertaken by Inspectors
  of Historic Buildings
• Properties are listed in three categories-
• Grade I - Buildings of exceptional interest
• Grade II Buildings of special interest
• Grade II - Particularly important buildings
• (A,B,C in Scotland)

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Listed building consent

• An owner of a listed building has to obtain
  Listed Building Consent (LBC) from the local
  planning authority before carrying out work that
  will change the character of the building
• If the planning authority considers that consent
  should be granted then referred to English
  Heritage, Cadw, Historic Scotland for
  consideration.

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National Trust

• National Trust Act of 1907
• National Trust Planning Principles
• 1. The Trust will seek to influence the
  Planning system at local, regional and national
  levels in accordance with our statutory purpose
  and will promote an integrated approach to
  sustainable development.

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Community Parish Councils

• Not present in all areas
• Third tier authority
• NOT a statutory consultee but many planning
  authorities consult in order to gain local
  perspective
• E.g.Ceredigion County Council send planning
  application details and development control
  committee agenda to community councils for
  comment.

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Pressure groups

• Set up to influence Government on particular
  issues
• Environmental groups concerned about the effect
  of planning
• CPRE, CPRW, Friends of the Earth
• Conservation groups concerned about the
  conservation of buildings
• Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
• National single issue groups
• Transport - Sustrans
• Local single issue groups

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Elected members

• Members of the Local Authority
• May or may not be Members of the Development
  Control/Planning Committee
• Governed by the Code of Conduct

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Elected Members
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Local Member

• Provide advice on planning procedures
• Campaign on behalf of local residents
• Hold site meetings with officers, developers and
  objectors
• If a member is a member of the development
  control committee and publicly states a view
  prior to the committee meeting then he/she is
  disqualified from participating in the matter
• Requirement to hear all the evidence before
  making a decision

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Case study - Liverpool Football Club

• Development of Centenary Stand 1980s
• Season ticket holders and other members of
  Liverpool City Council Development Control
  Committee were wined and dined by LFC
• Labour Group enacted a three line whip to pass
  the application
• Local residents took the matter to the High Court
  on the ground of abuse of process
• The Court found in favour of the residents

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Nolan Report

• The Committee on Standards in Public Life was
  established by John Major, the then Prime
  Minister in October 1994
• Chairmanship of Lord Nolan
• to consider standards of conduct in various
  areas of public life, and to make
  recommendations

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The Seven Principles of Public Life

• Selflessness
• Holders of public office should take decisions
  solely in terms of the public interest. They
  should not do so in order to gain financial or
  other material benefits for themselves, their
  family, or their friends.
• Integrity
• Holders of public office should not place
  themselves under any financial or other
  obligation to outside individuals or
  organisations that might influence them in the
  performance of their official duties.
• Objectivity
• In carrying out public business, including making
  public appointments, awarding contracts, or
  recommending individuals for rewards and
  benefits, holders of public office should make
  choices on merit.

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The Seven Principles of Public Life

• Accountability
• Holders of public office are accountable for
  their decisions and actions to the public and
  must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is
  appropriate to their office.
• Openness
• Holders of public office should be as open as
  possible about all the decisions and actions that
  they take. They should give reasons for their
  decisions and restrict information only when the
  wider public interest clearly demands.
• Honesty
• Holders of public office have a duty to declare
  any private interests relating to their public
  duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts
  arising in a way that protects the public
  interest.
• Leadership
• Holders of public office should promote and
  support these principles by leadership and
  example.

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Standards of Conduct in Local Government in
England, Scotland and Wales. Third Report of the
Committee on Standards in Public Life

• a clear code of conduct for councillors developed
  by each individual council within a framework
  approved by Parliament
• that each council should have a Standards
  Committee to deal with matters of propriety and
  to have powers to recommend to the full council
  that errant members should be disciplined
• the creation of new Local Government Tribunals to
  act as independent arbiters on matters relating
  to councils' codes of conduct and to hear appeals
  from councillors and others
• the involvement of the courts in imposing
  penalties for misconduct, to replace surcharge
• following consultation, a new statutory offence
  of misuse of public office.

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Declarations of Interest

• a public register of interests covering the
  pecuniary interests of a councillor, close family
  members and members of his or her household and
  non-pecuniary interests which relate to the
  councillor's service on bodies with which the
  council is associated.
• all relevant interests should be declared at
  meetings. There should be a graded response up to
  and including withdrawal from the meeting by the
  councillor where there is a real danger of bias,
  but in lesser cases it should be possible for a
  councillor to participate in the meeting and, in
  some cases, to vote

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Members of Planning Committees

• All members of an authority's planning committee
  (or equivalent) should receive training in the
  planning system, either before serving on the
  committee, or as soon as possible after
  appointment to the committee.
• Planning committees should consider whether their
  procedures are in accordance with best practice,
  and adapt their procedures if necessary, setting
  them out in a code accessible to councillors,
  staff, and members of the public.
• The Department of the Environment (and the
  Scottish and Welsh Offices) should consider
  whether present legislation on planning
  obligations is sufficiently tightly worded to
  prevent planning permissions from being bought
  and sold. The Departments should continue to
  reduce the time taken for planning appeals to be
  arranged and should set demanding targets to that
  end.

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Members of Planning Committees

• Local authorities should adopt rules on openness
  that allow planning agreements to be subject to
  discussion by members of the authority and the
  public. They should not restrict access to
  supporting documents except where justified by
  the requirements of commercial confidentiality,
  which should be interpreted narrowly.
• The Government should require authorities to
  notify the appropriate Secretary of State of all
  planning applications in which they have an
  interest, either in the development or in the
  land, either where the proposed development is
  contrary to the local plan, or has given rise to
  a level of objections regarded by the appropriate
  Secretary of State as substantial.
• The Government should be more ready to use its
  powers to call in all major planning applications
  handled by an authority where, over a period of
  time, there is substantial public concern about
  that authority's decision-making procedures.

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Committee on Standards in Public Life

• http//www.public-standards.gov.uk/

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Standards Committee local authority

• Independent members
• Limited local authority member representation
• Chaired by an independent member
• Monitoring Officer provides legal advice
• Decide on dispensation for members to speak and
  vote on matters where they are perceived to have
  an interest

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Local Government Ombudsman

• Sanction and discipline breaches of the Code of
  Conduct
• Suspend or disqualify members from a local
  authority
• Planning matters
• Cannot overturn the decision
• Determine whether the Authority has acted
  incorrectly and can order the authority to pay
  damages to the complainants.

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Officers

• Employees of local authority
• Posses planning or related qualification
• Some may have professional planning qualifications

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Officers

• Key roles
• Provide pre-application advice
• Receive and enter applications onto planning
  register
• Evaluate application on policy grounds and write
  report
• Assist in the determination process
• Communicate decision to applicant
• Bound by Code of Conduct for Officers

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Typical structure of Planning Department in Local
Authority
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Government

• Responsible for national policy
• Responsible for national planning system

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Neighbours

• Statutory consultees
• Smaller developments
• Letter, Signpost, Web
• Larger developments
• Newspaper as well
• Planning register is an open register for all to
  view
• Only legal advice to officers is exempt

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Neighbours - issues

• Relevant
• What the proposal looks like
• Traffic
• Potential parking problems
• Overlooking
• Loss of light or privacy
• Impact on the local environment.
• Not relevant
• Possible loss of value
• Disputes between neighbours
• Restrictive covenants
• Ownership
• Disturbance during construction
• Party wall issues are a civil matter
• Comments are available to applicants and the
  public to view

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Local residents

• More likely to be an objector rather than
  supporter maintain STATUS QUO
• Concerned by effect of development on-
• Own property
• Issue of specific concern e.g. green,
  conservation
• Issue of local concern e.g. traffic,
  overdevelopment
• Sometimes object for the sake of objecting

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NIMBY

• Not In My Back Yard
• In favour of development elsewhere but not in own
  locality

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PIMBY/YIMBY

• Please In My Back Yard
• Yes In My Back Yard

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BANANA

• Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything

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CAVE people

• Citizens Against Virtually Everything

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Drawbridge mentality

• Drawbridge mentality describes the attitude of
  people who inwardly migrate to more exclusive or
  more unspoiled communities and thereafter
  campaign to preserve the tranquillity of that
  community by opposing further inward migration by
  people or businesses and, possibly, any
  development or refurbishment, including plans put
  forward by those already located there
• Particularly true in National Parks and AONB

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Developers

• Private Individuals
• Builders
• Building companies
• Speculators
• Architects

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Development process
Identify Objectives
Search for Investment Opportunities
Initial Screen
List Possible Outcomes
Measure Cashflow
THE BIN
Select Investment Projects
Review investment decision