Content

Approval to release the draft Cumberland
Statement of Community Involvement for a six week consultation
period (from Friday 13th September to Friday 25th October
2024).

Reasons for the decision

A Statement of Community Involvement is a
document setting out how the Council will involve and engage
interested parties (e.g. members of the public and organisations)
in the production of planning policy documents and the
determination of planning applications. This meaningful engagement
and involvement allows people to influence the decisions to shape
the future of Cumberland.
 
The Statement of Community Involvement
contains the minimum engagement required in line with legal
regulations. For Local Plan preparation, a more detailed programme
of consultation will be developed alongside the Statement of
Community Involvement at each stage to ensure that the Local Plan
passes the Legal test at its Examination in Public. 
 
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act
2004[1] sets out the legal requirement
for the Council to produce a Statement of Community
Involvement.
 
Statement of Community Involvement documents
need to be updated every five years from the adoption date[2]
to ensure effective community involvement at all stages of the
planning process. The current legacy documents were adopted as
follows:
 
Allerdale – February 2022
Carlisle – July 2017
Copeland – August 2020
Cumbria County Council – July 2017
 
In addition to the fulfilling its legal
requirements, it is important for the Council to have a Statement
of Community Involvement to help interested parties understand and
navigate the planning system which, at times, can be complex. It
will assist with making the planning process more open and
transparent and will ensure that people know how they can get
involved in the process.
 
The draft Statement of Community Involvement
is divided into sections to reflect the different elements of
planning. There are separate chapters for Planning Policy and
Development Management, with Planning Enforcement being included
within the Development Management chapter.
 
It should be noted that the Statement of
Community Involvement refers to a separate Neighbourhood Planning
Protocol. This will not be subject to a public consultation as it
is simply a document outlining what the roles of the Council and
the Neighbourhood Group are at each stage of the Neighbourhood
Planning process. The Protocol has been included in Appendix 2 to
this report for information only.
 

[1]www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/5/section/18

[2]www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/767/regulation/10A

Alternative options considered

To not produce a new Statement of Community
Involvement and to continue to rely on the four legacy
documents.
 
Risks
 
It is recommended that a new, single Statement
of Community Involvement document is produced for Cumberland. It is
not practical to rely on the four legacy documents as there are
discrepancies between the four currently adopted documents that
reflect previous ways of working. In addition, two of the four
adopted documents are required to be updated anyway due to being
over five years old, with another of the documents adopted four
years ago. A new, single Statement of Community Involvement will
help to provide a uniform approach to engagement opportunities
within planning that reflects new methods of communication and
allow the Council to be legally compliant.
 
Whilst it is not a legal requirement to
conduct a public consultation on a Statement of Community
Involvement, it is considered to be a
good opportunity to strengthen public engagement within the
planning process as well as an opportunity to ascertain that the
proposed methods of engagement are the most appropriate in terms of
resources and legal requirements.