Contact Officer: John Hamilton Tel: 01865 815584
ITEM PN13
PLANNING & REGULATION COMMITTEE – 21 JULY 2008
PLANNING APPLICATION VALIDATION CHECKLISTS
Report by Head of Sustainable Development
Introduction
1. Planning & Regulation Committee in October 2007 authorised the drawing up of a local validation checklist for use in the registration and validation of planning applications determined by the County Council.
2. The list has been drawn up and has been the subject of a consultation exercise with national and regional consultees and various interested bodies across the county. The six week period for consultation, as required by government guidelines, expired on 27 June 2008. Planning & Regulation Committee are now being asked to adopt the checklist.
Background
3. As part of the Government’s programme to improve efficiency in processing planning applications, it has introduced a standardised national planning application form, known as 1APP as from 6 April 2008. The 1APP form has a number of variations depending on the type of application made (full, outline, listed building consent etc). The new form has a corresponding number of national checklists which specifies the minimum information needed to validate an application. Once an application has been validated it will be registered as a formal application.
4. Government guidance, issued in December 2007, is that the national system should be supplemented by local validation checklists. Experience has shown that the national checklist does not always allow the collection of enough information to determine the application and often further information is required during the application process. If this information is material it may involve further consultations with interested parties which can lead to delays in determining the application. This can frustrate our ability to determine an application within the 13 week target time period (16 weeks where applications are accompanied by Environmental Assessments) and can lead to confusion and consultation overload.
5. Best practice is to secure sufficient information prior to registration of applications to enable applications to be determined efficiently, to give clarity and certainty to applicants and agents and allow interested parties to make informed comments.
6. The new power from Government in relation to local validation checklists permits councils to refuse to validate applications if applicants have not provided the information requested and justified why they have not done so. The Government guidance recommends that councils should consult stakeholders on their proposed validation checklists.
Validation checklists consultation
7. The draft validation checklists have been the subject of a six-week period of public consultation between 15 May and 27 June 2008. Officers consulted all planning stakeholders recommended by the Government guidance including regular agents, parish/town councils and statutory bodies.
8. Consultation responses are summarised at Annex 1 (download as .doc file) to this report along with officer comments in response.
Next steps and publication
9. The national and local validation requirements are attached at Annex 2 (download as .doc file). The Committee is asked to consider the section titled ‘local requirements’ and adopt these for implementation. Once adopted, officers will advise the planning stakeholders and update the Council website.
10. There may be a need to make text amendments to the validation checklists in the future as we learn from experience and Committee are asked to authorise the Head of Sustainable Development to make such changes, in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, where necessary.
RECOMMENDATION
11. The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:
(a) adopt a set of Local Validation Checklists for use in the development control planning process as set out in Annex 2 to this report; and
(b) authorise the Head of Sustainable Development, in consultation with the Chairman of the Planning & Regulation Committee, to make any text changes to the validation checklists as and when required.
CHRIS COUSINS Head of Sustainable Development Environment & Economy
Background Papers: Nil
July 2008
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