How can members of the public make their views known? (Commenting on Planning Applications) - Saltford Parish Council

How can members of the public make their views known? (Commenting on Planning Applications)

B&NES Council is the Planning Authority for Saltford. Details about planning applications in Saltford – both historic and current – can be found on Bath & North East Somerset Council’s planning applications search page (AKA the B&NES ‘Planning Portal’).

B&NES Council is the decision making body for planning applications in Saltford (not SPC). B&NES Council’s decisions are based on local and national planning policy, please see B&NES Council’s page ‘Local planning policy guidance‘ for further information.

SPC aims to respond to all planning consultations as sent from the Planning Authority (B&NES Council). As SPC is a statutory consultee for certain types of planning application, not all planning applications in Saltford displayed on the B&NES Council Planning Portal are discussed at SPC meetings. For more information, please see below.

Members of the public can make their views about planning applications known to the Planning Authority by submitting their comments to B&NES Council via the B&NES Council Planning Portal. 

Residents can also inform SPC of their views prior to the Parish Council resolving its own view. Information below explains how and when residents can do this. Please note that SPC does not pass on resident views about planning consultations to B&NES Council on behalf of residents.

For a member of the public’s view to be taken into account by the Planning Authority during the consultation process, they must submit these directly to B&NES Council during the open consultation period.

Why Parish Councils are consulted, and respond, to planning consultations

Section 25 of The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 states that Parish Councils are statutory consultees and must be informed of planning applications by the Planning Authority.

Section 293G of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 enables Parish Councils to express views on planning consultations. Further, Saltford Parish Council is eligible – and therefore has adopted – the General Power of Competence. This is the power to do ‘anything that individuals generally may do’.

Parish Councils are the first tier of local government, and as such SPC is the council closest to the residents of Saltford. SPC Councillors are not planning experts, however they have been democratically elected (or co-opted) to meet as a Council to resolve views on local matters which includes planning consultations and other planning matters (individual councillors may choose not to discuss or vote on Planning Consultations in which they have a declarable interest – please see the Code of Conduct). 

B&NES Council is the decision making authority for planning applications in Saltford, and the Parish Council’s views are taken into account by B&NES Council along with the views of others who respond as part of the consultation process.

As standard, when possible SPC submits a response to all planning consultations received directly from the Planning Authority. These are usually resolved at SPC’s Full Council (monthly, bar August) meetings, and ‘Planning Matters’ is a standing item on agendas. However, there is no legal obligation for a Parish Council to respond to any planning consultation.

SPC also has a Planning Committee with powers to resolve planning applications. SPC’s Planning Committee usually meets in August (when there is usually no Full Council meeting), and as-and-when required.

SPC also has a Scheme of Delegation, meaning that the Parish Clerk can respond to consultations on behalf of the Council. This is only usually used when the Council is unable to meet in time to resolve a view prior to a consultation end date. Please note that such planning applications may not be listed on a meeting agenda, but if the Scheme of Delegation is used that any decisions would be recorded in the minutes of the next meeting (either Full Council, or Planning Committee).

Who is informed about planning application consultations and who can respond?

As above, SPC is informed about planning applications by the Planning Authority (B&NES Council) as it is a statutory consultee, and looks to respond as permitted according to legislation. SPC may also respond to consultations it is not directly informed of by either B&NES Council or any other Planning Authority – it does not have to be a statutory consultee to respond to a planning consultation.

It is the responsibility of the Planning Authority (usually B&NES Council) to inform near neighbours of planning applications, not a Parish Council’s. If a resident believes they should have been notified by the Planning Authority about a planning application by letter, this can be raised to the attention of B&NES Council directly (however the same information will be on the B&NES Council Planning Portal, see below on how to receive notifications). The name of the Case Officer assigned to each planning application can be found under the ‘Details’ section on the B&NES Council Planning Portal. The date that both ‘neighbourhood’ and ‘standard’ consultations were sent out is listed under the ‘Important Dates’ tab.

It is also the responsibility of the Planning Authority to display physical site notices. If you have any concerns about missing planning consultation notices, please contact the Planning Authority and address your query to the relevant Case Officer.

Saltford residents can sign up to receive B&NES Council notifications about planning applications e.g. any applications close to their property, the whole of Saltford etc. Please view our ‘How can Saltford residents find out about planning applications?‘ page.

Though it is not the responsibility of a Parish Council to raise awareness of planning applications, SPC lists planning applications it is looking to resolve a response to on its agendas (usually published on a Thursday before a Tuesday meeting), which are available online and on our noticeboard. Where possible, SPC also lists planning applications it will consider at a meeting on its social media pages. SPC does this to help aid resident awareness of local planning consultations.

Any member of the public can respond to a planning consultation with their view, not just neighbours and/or those that have been directly consulted by the Planning Authority.

Though it is permitted to do so, there is no requirement for SPC prior to resolving its response to the Planning Authority to directly inform or seek engagement with an applicant, immediate neighbour(s) or any other person, organisation or resident(s) with regards to a planning application – in part as it is not usually within Saltford Parish Council’s resource. Should the applicant, neighbour(s) or any other resident wish to contact SPC about a planning application once a consultation opens, they are welcome to do so – please find more information below.

How can residents can inform B&NES Council of their views on planning applications?

Details of all Saltford planning applications can be found on B&NES Council’s Planning Application Search Page, which is part of the B&NES Council Planning Portal.

To find information type in the reference number (if known) or else the address, and information about live and historic planning applications should come up. This gives the option to select specific applications, and to find out relevant information (including about open consultations and their end dates etc.,) and to submit a comment for the awareness of B&NES Council if comments are being accepted (e.g. if the consultation period is open). There is also usually the option to request to receive email updates about an application.

As above, to receive alerts about future local planning applications that you may wish to comment on visit our How can Saltford residents find out about planning applications? page. Residents can also sign up to track a specific planning application via the B&NES Council website, details about this are also available via SPC’s page as linked.

How can residents can share their views with Saltford Parish Council?

SPC may resolve its view at any point during or even after the stated consultation period of any application on the B&NES Council Planning Portal. Members of the public are welcome to contact the Parish Council in advance of a Parish Council or Planning Committee meeting to find out details of the meeting when a planning application will be discussed. Please also find information about SPC Site Visits on our website. Please contact SPC at clerk@saltfordparishcouncil.gov.uk or by using the ‘Contact Us‘ page on our website should you wish to get in touch with regards to a Saltford planning consultation.

SPC looks to consider the views of residents about planning applications, and as such advises residents to comment on applications via the B&NES Planning Portal as soon as possible after a consultation period opens, so SPC may view these on the B&NES Council Planning Portal for awareness prior to resolving a view at a meeting. SPC may also view comments on the planning portal prior to a decision being made using the ‘Scheme of Delegation’, should a consultation end date be before SPC can meet to resolve a view and in the rare instances when it is not possible for the Planning Authority to permit a time extension to the Parish Council to respond.

The B&NES Council Planning Portal, under ‘Important Dates’, shows an end date for consultation responses which is usually 21 days from when a consultation has opened. As SPC issues agendas monthly, it regularly requests that the Planning Authority grants SPC a time extension to respond at a meeting where a planning consultation can be listed on the agenda (so that residents can be aware that a SPC view will be discussed and resolved). Due to this, SPC’s responses may show after the publicised consultation end date on the Planning Portal – this action is always with prior arrangement with B&NES Council – and responses are usually submitted the day after a SPC meeting takes place.

SPC requests a time extension for roughly a quarter of planning consultations it receives from the Planning Authority, so residents are advised to check the B&NES Council Planning Portal for consultation end dates and not assume that if a consultation is on a Parish Council agenda that consultation responses can also still be submitted by residents via the B&NES Council Planning Portal.

SPC publishes a list of planning applications that it will look to resolve on its agendas under the ‘Planning Matters’ item. As with all matters that the Council is making decisions on, the onus is on members of the public to check SPC’s agendas to be aware of what SPC will be discussing and resolving.

SPC shares its agendas on its website and noticeboard, and when possible on its social media. SPC also posts a list of planning applications that it will be discussing at a meeting on its social media if possible, usually following an agenda being issued. (Please see the side bar of SPC’s website pages for recent posts or visit our Facebook page).

SPC Full Council and Planning Committee meetings are held in public. SPC permits members of the public to speak at a SPC meeting about any agenda item that the Council will resolve a view on during ‘Public Time’ (3 minutes max.), before SPC resolves its view on the matter later in the meeting. This includes speaking to support, object or to comment on a planning application listed on the agenda. Comments are directed to the Chair of the meeting. Please see SPC’s ‘Public Engagement Guidelines’ available on our ‘Meetings – Minutes and Agendas‘ page.

If a Councillor has a disclosable interest in a planning consultation to be resolved (according to the Code of Conduct), at the meeting where it is to be discussed it is their responsibility to declare an interest (usually under the item titled ‘Declarations of Interest’) ahead of ‘Planning Matters’. They may then look to abstain from discussing and voting on the individual planning consultation or the entire item. This intention is often shared under ‘Declarations of Interest’.

Members of the public are welcome to stay to listen to the Council’s discussion of items under ‘Planning Matters’. The decision made by the Council will also be recorded in the (initially draft) minutes published on SPC’s website and noticeboard, usually in the week following a meeting. SPC’s decision is usually made available by B&NES Council on its planning portal soon after it has been submitted (SPC aims to submit responses to B&NES Council the day after a meeting). Residents are welcome to leave a SPC meeting at any point.

Please find more information about meetings on SPC’s ‘Meetings – Agendas and Minutes’ page. This includes SPC’s Public Engagement Guidelines which has details about attending and speaking at SPC meetings.

Other information about planning matters in Saltford

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