Planning Applications – Parish Council Responsibilities
The Planning Authority covering Chineham is Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. Decisions are made by the Development Control Committee.
Householder developments and other small developments are usually decided by Planning Officers under delegated powers from the Development Control Committee, unless they are contentious. If ten or more objections are received about a planning application or if five or more objections are received and the Parish Council also objects, the application will automatically go to the full Development Control Committee for a decision. Ward Councillors can also request a referral to the Development Control Committee under certain circumstances.
Chineham Parish Council is a consultee; it does not have the power to make decisions about planning applications. The planning process and all applications in the Chineham Parish are considered and commented upon by Chineham Parish Council’s Planning Committee, which also considers applications in neighbouring areas which may impact on Chineham.
Chineham Parish Council’s Planning Committee has delegated powers from the full Parish Council in respect of planning consultations. However, where a proposal is likely to have a major impact or have significant policy implications, it will be referred to the full Parish Council.
It should be noted that whilst the Borough Council does not have to agree with Parish Council recommendations, it does have to consider the Parish Council’s views, which are quoted in the Officers’ reports to the Borough Council's Development Control Committee.
Consultations can take a variety of forms and depend on the nature of the works proposed. In general the process at Chineham is as follows:
- The Parish Council is advised of a new application by the Borough Council. The Parish Council works on a paperless system in that paper copies of the plans are not provided and all plans and associated papers are downloaded from the Borough Council website for viewing using a projector and screen at the Planning Committee Meeting.
- The Parish Council adds the application(s) to the next Parish Council Planning Committee agenda and the agenda is advertised in accordance with Local Government rules including on this website - see the Planning Committee Meetings section.
- Immediate neighbours are informed of the application(s) by the Parish Council in the form of a hand-delivered letter.
- These neighbours are also invited to attend the Parish Planning Committee meeting to make their views known.
- The applicant is advised by the Parish Council in the form of a hand-delivered letter that neighbours have been advised of the application along with the details of the next Planning Committee meeting.
- The application(s) are considered at the Parish Planning Committee meeting where comments and recommendations are agreed for submission to the Borough Council and recorded in the meeting minutes.
There is sometimes confusion as to what are valid Planning considerations and what are not. For example, if residents complain that a proposed development would cause the value of their house to fall this would not be a valid planning consideration and could not be discussed by the Planning Committee. If consent is granted for a development, this does not grant any rights to obstruct others during construction, nor any right to store building plant or materials on land outside the property, including public land such as road verges.
Valid Planning considerations would include the following:
- Traffic generation, highway safety and parking
- Overshadowing, overlooking and loss of privacy
- Noise, disturbance or other loss of amenities
- Relevant planning policies
- Effect on trees
- Design e.g. height/bulk/position of buildings, appearance, effect on surrounding area
- Inadequate landscaping/means of enclosure
The following would not normally be valid planning considerations:
- Loss of property value
- Issues of market competition
- Loss of a view
- The applicant’s motives, character or personal circumstances
- Matters covered by other legislation, including restrictive covenants on land
- Issues relating to land ownership/property boundaries, including the need to access land to undertake development
- Moral or religious issues
- Issues relating to the construction of a development
- The reasons why a developer is making the application or their activities elsewhere