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Summary of best practice
6. Five key stages of good practice are set out below and elaborated in later sections:
- Deciding what constitutes a departure: it will be easier to identify whether an application is a departure from the development plan if the plan contains clear policies, reasoning and explanation. An application for development which is not coversed by a development plan should be regarded as a departure. If in doubt, the authority should treat the application as if it were a potential departure, subject to the procedures outlined in this PAN.
- Giving publicity to departures: if an application is, or could be regarded as being, contrary to the development plan, the authority should advertise it as soon as practicable after the date of receipt. See annex A.
- Taking account of representations: departure applications challenge approved policies and should be handled with particular care. Authorities should consider using their discretion to give respondents the opportunity to appear at the planning committee, or at a special hearing or delegated/sub-committee meeting.
- Informing respondents: where an authority decides to approve a departure and the consent has been issued, a copy of the statement of reasons should be sent to all those who made representations. In contentious cases authorities should consider placing a notice in the local newspaper indicating where a copy of the statement of reasons can be found, for example in a local office or library.
- Monitoring departures and updating plans: a large number of departure approvals will undermine the credibility of development plan policies and the effectiveness of development control. Systematic monitoring will help to indicate when a development plan requires to be altered.
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