Bucks Council are running a consultation until 22nd March on how they will involve local communities (you) at each stage of the planning process (including planning applications and Local Plans). They are consulting on the terms of their "Statement of Community Involvement" document ("SCI"). This document may surprise you.
If you think that you will be able to see planning notices attached to lampposts or if you think you will receive a letter from the council if your neighbours submit a planning application which could impact you, think again. The council will not be obliged to do this, so please respond to the consultation to say you want the council to remain obliged to do this. Without a physical planning notice, how will you find out if a development is planned for your street, high street or town and which you might find objectionable if it is only visible somewhere online but no-one has told you about it?
We will all be just like poor Arthur Dent in "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" who tried to find a planning notice which was "on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard."
It's almost as if Bucks Council don't want you to know what's going on in your local area, so you miss the opportunity to comment on it.
The document (the SCI) which they are invite your views on draws a distinction between what the council WILL do and what they MAY do.
Here are some aspects from the document which you may like to comment on:
Local Plan - the council say they MAY publish a draft Local Plan for public consultation. I say that publication of the draft stage is essential. Without this step, the first you may hear of the Local Plan is when it is published (i.e. the version the council considers to be the final version), much further down in the process and just 6 weeks before the examination stage before the Planning Inspectors. Again, it's almost as if the council don't want you to know about or comment on it.
Planning Applications - the council say they MAY (but may not) display a planning notice near the application site; and they MAY (but may not) post letters to neighbours; and they MAY (but may not) notify the town council of planning applications. Again, it's almost as if they don't want you to know about or comment on planning applications.
I will post suggestions for consultation responses in a future blog but make a diary note the deadline for responses is 22nd March.
Here's a link to the consultation:
You can complete the consultation by answering questions online, or you can email your comments to planningpolicyteam.bc@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
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