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taking account of representations
KEY ADVICE
- Authorities should consider whether it might be appropriate to give all those who made representations the opportunity to appear at the planning committee or at a special hearing or delegated/subcommittee meeting (paras 16 &17).
16. Authorities may offer respondents the opportunity, if they so request, of appearing before them to state and explain their representations. Although such an invitation remains at the discretion of the authority, selective use of the practice can lead to greater confidence by the public in the planning authority's decision. In deciding whether to exercise their discretion to allow respondents to appear, the authorities should be guided by:-
- how up-to-date the development plan is, and the relevance of the policies to the proposed development;
- the degree to which other material considerations are raised by the representations; and
- the degree of local interest and controversy.
If respondents are offered the opportunity to appear before the planning committee, applicants should similarly be allowed to appear to support their applications.
17. Attendance at committee may be a problem, for example in remote, rural areas or where the applicant does not live locally. In these circumstances, authorities should use their discretion to hold a delegated or devolved hearing in a local office or, if this is not warranted, deal with the respondents by correspondence in the usual way. A balance has to be struck between the costs of staff and delay and the benefits of confidence that arise from a decision in which interested parties have had a genuine opportunity to participate.
18. Where many departures from development plans occur, this will cause delay and affect overall development control performance. A high level of departures is clearly undesirable and authorities should review policies which are not performing effectively with a view to altering their development plans.
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