Parish Councillors Meeting

Question

Good afternoon

We have a full agenda this evening....... end of year etc.   ON the agenda is a planning application which has divided our village.     We have had a public meeting but many may turn up this evening.  If we were to 'sit' to very late can a meeting actually be adjourned and continued  another evening.  I am sure I  read some minutes once by another council who did that.....

THanks

Ann

Answer 1

Standing Orders usually provide for meetings to be limited to 2 hours but you can resolve to extend that time if necessary.  Your standing orders also usually limit the time allowed for public participation.  Commonly this is for 15 minutes but can be longer and of course the key is whether your Chair is able to control the meeting appropriately and restrict the public from overrunning that time.  If you've had a public meeting already there really isn't any justification for allowing the public to speak for any longer or to repeat what was said at the public meeting but it is for the Chair to control this.

You can end a meeting at the end of the allotted time of course and reschedule another meeting to complete the agenda.  Don't forget, however, that there will need to be a new agenda, issued three clear days before the date of the resumed meeting.  Personally not a fan of either overrunning or deferring items to a later meeting but I guess if needs must!

Comments

thank you for taking the time to answer   actually home now....

Answer 2

The whole point is that the Parish Council is a consultee on planning matters ( not a decision maker) and can only make comments based on planning regulations and law. They have one other action open to them if they have produced a neighbourhood Development Plan they can remind the planners where an application contravenes the NDP requirements. It is a much more productive course of action for the PC to advise members of the public of their right to object to any planning application and that the  number of valid objections will carry more weight than the PC alone. Also to advise against petitions being presented as they carry little or no weight. Nothing stopping the PC "advising" the community of where and which points are valid points as the basis for their objection.

Comments

Thank you for your comment.    Appreciate you time to answer

---

You could also lobby your district councillors and ask for the application to be brought before the District planning committee. This will allow you to attend the meeting and speak against the application - but you usually only get a couple of minutes to speak. Beware that the developers will likely have well paid barristers also speaking. Otherwise the decision will be made by the planning officer without recourse to the planning committee.
Any objections must be based on planning law - so reading the NPPF, and the District planning rules is a must, as well as any NDP, as Mentorman suggests.