Slight planning issue...

[JMTHORNLEY]

I won’t go into to much detail as it’s not really required tbh but I wonder if anyone can help me with this one.

I am currently being targeted by a witch hunt to stop a planning application. My question is this,

Can a local Parish Counsel member comment on a planning application as a ‘member of the public’? I have it in my head from long ago that they can’t and they must remain impartial and voice their opinions totally unbiased and from the parish’s opinion... Am I totally wrong with this one or not? Needless to say we’ve had every member of the council comment on my application as a member if the public and then again as the Parish Council

Thoughts and opinions welcome on this one please

 

[topground]

The Parish Council and its members have far less clout than they would like. If your application meets the local plan and general planning policy it doesn’t matter what the nimby says.

 

[deleted user 837354]

I don't see that a person sitting in such a position can effectively comment on something twice?

 

[ARW]

I think they can comment but only a personal view
Parish councillors soon forget that the parish council is there for the people of the village NOT themselves

 

[bobk]

The Parish Council and its members have far less clout than they would like. If your application meets the local plan and general planning policy it doesn’t matter what the nimby says.

This

 

[Smith31]

If your application ticks all the boxes it will be approved, regardless of what anyone says.

 

[Doc]

I’ve had a few run ins with Parish council.
Last planning process we went through the Architect, who has a good relationship with LA, basically said the LA would be surprised if the Parish council didn’t object to any local application and they largely ignore them and just judge applications on the local plan overseen by the planning inspectorate.

 

[JSmith]

We had similar in that two of the biggest complainers got they’re selves on the council so they could keep throwing spanner's in the works, cost thousands in extra planning hoops to jump through!! The one with the biggest mouth, his house was up against our land an he had a serious aversion to pigs, we hadn’t got pigs but soon found some an put a pig ark outside his back window so that’s all he could see when looked outside, and a scratching post for the boar to rub his balls up!! Some might say a bit petty but i took great satisfaction in the thought that I was driving him bonkers!!

 

[Nearly]

I’ve had a few run ins with Parish council.
Last planning process we went through the Architect, who has a good relationship with LA, basically said the LA would be surprised if the Parish council didn’t object to any local application and they largely ignore them and just judge applications on the local plan overseen by the planning inspectorate.

But it would be nice to point out that the parish councillor is acting wrongly.

 

[betweenthelines]

PC has surprisingly little power-certainly a lot less than those on it think.

 

[teslacoils]

I'd be zero percent concerned about the pc or public comments.

 

[bobk]

All parish councillors are arseholes , with a f**kin enormous chip . tossers

 

[DrWazzock]

Ignore them. Nobody takes any notice of Parish Councils and rightly so. They are a waste of time space.

 

[br jones]

Parish council have zero influence. If application conforms to planning rules ,it will pass ,maybe a pre app bypassing pc

 

[J 1177]

The chair of our parish council is brilliant, farmers grandson who joined the navy, served on the ark royal then became a teacher. Oh and he's a former London Scottish rugby player..
He's my son's rugby coach and doesn't suffer fools.
We had years of the local neighberhood labour chairman running the show for him and his mates in the wmc.
Iv just got my plans passed for a shed (full planning) no objections from the p council. They did want to know what I wanted it for and other details I explained it and they had no problem.
The old lot would have condemned it from the start.

 

[steveR]

The Parish Council and its members have far less clout than they would like. If your application meets the local plan and general planning policy it doesn’t matter what the nimby says.

A PC who makes a View, will (usually) be given the same consideration as an Individual, until the CC or BC want support from the PC, at which time they will take noric eof teh PC viewpoint, if it supports theirs!!!

 

[steveR]

I won’t go into to much detail as it’s not really required tbh but I wonder if anyone can help me with this one.

I am currently being targeted by a witch hunt to stop a planning application. My question is this,

Can a local Parish Counsel member comment on a planning application as a ‘member of the public’? I have it in my head from long ago that they can’t and they must remain impartial and voice their opinions totally unbiased and from the parish’s opinion... Am I totally wrong with this one or not? Needless to say we’ve had every member of the council comment on my application as a member if the public and then again as the Parish Council

Thoughts and opinions welcome on this one please

Yes, the Councillor/s should make it plain that the opinion expressed, is that of an individual. Perfectly legit.

If the Councillor attempts to express the viewpoint as being that of the PC, then they should get a rap over the knuckles from the Clerk/Legal Officer, and possibly a quiet word from the Chair.

Above view is based on 20 yrs on a PC and 10 as Chair

 

[Bongodog]

As a serving parish cllr, I feel qualified to answer:
Anyone can make an objection to a planning application, even a parish cllr, they must not however use the title cllr if making a personal objection or claim to be representing the council..
There was a time when an objection from a parish council automatically resulted in an application having to be put before the district council planning committee if the council planning officer was minded to grant approval, these days however this has gone and planning officers can just disregard parish comments far more easily.
The one big thing 99% of objectors fail to realise is that objections are only valid if the application is outside of the councils approved planning policies.
We had the situation locally a few years ago where the district councils development plan was thrown out by the planning inspectorate (suspicion was that there was nothing wrong with the plan, it was just that the government wanted a few thousand more houses in a hurry) This resulted in applications for houses all over the place, our village alone gained 200 extra houses over 5 sites none of which were previously considered suitable for development.
Every objection our council made was overruled at district level as they were scared of developers appealing against rejections. I resigned from our planning committee as it was just a waste of an evening, nothing would ever again make me reconsider and sit there making decisions for District to ignore.

If your application meets all the planning policies it will get passed, the only function parish councils are ever useful for is that their local knowledge sometimes picks up errors in the application.

 

[Glass half full]

I was told by planning officer that parish council only has as much weight as a nearish neighbour objecting.

I have also had a parish councillor objecting to an application I had in, then his wife wrote supporting it! so I guess they cancelled each other out!

 

[Still Farming]

Community Councillors got to declare an interest if anything directly involves them and abstain from the discussions about said topic and Chair person states when.
Also logged in minutes by the Clerk.
If not carried out properly their in trouble with The Local Authority Council and monitoring Officers etc.?