Do we have to have a public planning meeting

Question

We recently had to cancel a planning meeting due to illness, a request was sent out to all councillors to comment on two planning applications, some councillors have objected to this, saying that we should have an open meeting to discuss these applications but time was not on our side, do we have to have an open meeting?

Answer 1

In a word Yes.  All Town & Parish Council meetings are open to the public by default.  If your meeting is not open to the public your council (assuming it is a Town or Parish Council) must issue a resolution stating why the public cannot attend.  This would be (as per Schedule 12 of the The Local Govt Act 1972) because confidential or exempt items are being discussed, which I think would be highly unlikely.  The act stipulates that three clear days at least before a meeting of a parish council,  notice of the time and place of the intended meeting shall be fixed in some conspicuous place in the parish.   I don't think the notion of time not being on your side is a valid reason to be entertained given you have to meet the 3 days requirement.

Answer 2

The time limits for comments on planning applications can be a challenge and whilst most planning authorities will allow short extensions to enable a parish council to meet, there is a limit to what they will allow.  Some town and parish councils have a scheme of delegation to allow the clerk to respond to an application in such circumstances.  Whilst I am not personally in favour of such schemes of delegation my own council does have one which can be  used if/when it is impossible to meet and the application is a routine or non controversial one.   It is interesting how many controversial applications suddenly appear during periods of shut down such as Christmas!

Comments

It's also worth keeping an eye on your planning authority's online portal, as applications may be listed several weeks before the start of the formal consultation process, giving you a useful heads-up of what's in the pipeline. The consultation period starts when the case officer believes that they have all of the necessary information, so they may seek clarification or ask for additional documents from the applicant. From time to time I have brought an application to a meeting prior to the start of the consultation period, where it is clear that we have all of the necessary information. This would normally be an outline application where the council is being asked to comment solely on the principle of development.

Answer 3

Actually, the answer is no.  

There is no OBLIGATION upon a T/PC to include planning as an agenda item at a general meeting nor to have a separate committee in order to formulate and submit comments on a planning application.  But if you do have such an agenda item or specific committee then it is very difficult to see a valid justification for it to be anything other than a public meeting.

There is no reason why the individual Cllrs should not comment as individual Cllrs direct to the LA planning page - they would be commenting as individual Cllrs not the council.

If this is an unexpected cancellation of a pre-planned planning committee a notice could be posted informing the community that the council committee will not sit on this occasion and any person with a personal comment should submit it them self direct to the LA.

Unless it is a significant / controversial planning scenario, really, "so what" if a T/PC misses some routine planning consultee comments...  It'll probably go completely unnoticed...