Dealing with planning replies during the summer break

Question

We do not meet during August and therefore deal with our planning consultations via email with our councillors.

This can prove difficult due to holidays.  What do other councils do to overcome this?  We may include something into our standing orders to say we will allow less councillor (rather than the amount to be quorum at our meeting) to reply to be able to submit our comments?

Answer 1

An easy option is to delegate decisions to the clerk in simple cases. If something major comes up, then an extraordinary meeting is the best approach. Council decisions cannot really be made by email.

Answer 2

You have the right to be consulted and for your collective reply to be resolved and forwarded. But you can't dictate to the Principal Planning authority how long they will take to determine an application or when they hold their planning committee meetings, Two choices:  Comment as an individual Councillor or schedule a Council meeting in August.   The decision should NOT be delegated to the Clerk .