Planning Committee

The Council receives a diverse range of planning applications; from relatively small domestic extensions to very large developments of multiple residential or commercial units or a mixture of both. How applications are managed depends upon a number of factors, such as the complexity and size of the proposed development and whether or not any objections have been received by the Planning Department.   The Council has one main Planning Committee and two sub-committees - Planning Sub-Committee A and Planning Sub-Committee B. The main Planning Committee is made up of ten locally elected councillors who make decisions on major planning applications from across the borough. A major planning application, as defined in the Town and Country Planning (General Development) Procedure Order 1995 (as amended) is a development involving any one or more of the following:

(a)   the winning and working of minerals or the use of land for mineral-working deposits;

(b)   waste development;

(c)   the provision of dwelling houses where: (i) the number of dwelling houses to be provided is 10 or more; or (ii)the development is to be carried out on a site having an area of 0.5 hectare or more and it is not known whether the development falls within paragraph (c)(i);

(d)   the provision of a building or buildings where the floor space to be created by the development is 1,000 square metres or more; or

(e)   development carried out on a site having an area of 1 hectare or more   The remaining applications are either determined by one of the two sub-committees or by the Service Director Planning and Development, under delegated authority. Under special circumstances the main Planning Committee can occasionally makes decisions which would otherwise be made by officers or a sub-committee. Full details are in Part 5 of the Council's Constitution.   Residents can make representations about any of the planning applications on a meeting’s agenda, at the Chair's discretion. Comments will normally be limited to three minutes.   For information about planning policies, the progress of an individual planning application or how to submit an application, please see the Planning section of the website.