Who can object to a planning application? Is it one objection per houseor per person?

Mrs_Arcanum

vax2002 wrote: »

If the council get wind there is discontent they play a very nasty trump card.
They get one of their local dormant foot soldiers to go round knocking on doors with a petition AGAINST the development.
Locals sign the petition thinking that they no longer have to object now as they have already signed the petition with sometimes dozens of others.
However a petition counts as 1 objection in planning, despite the number of signatures.
Yes it is very sneaky, it is deception, but it is legal.

Someone tried this regarding a pub becoming a house and many councillors on the planning committee voted with the petitioners (even though many of the signatories had never set foot in the pub) refusing permission and quickly changing the planning rules for pubs closing. However this was overturned on appeal because there were no current (at the time of application) valid planning reasons to refuse permission for the change & they were awarded costs.

The important part of any objection is to be for valid planning reasons particularly outside of Permitted Development rules. These will frequently be picked up by the planning officers who may recommend refusal as a result. However the objections will help the committee members agree with the officers recommendation.

seven-day-weekend

Councils are obliged to publicise all planning applications. How they publicise them is discretionary and will depend upon the proposed development.

Anyone can object, but to be taken into consideration it has to be on planning, not personal, grounds.

In the Planning Department I used to work in, a petition was always referred to as 'one petition of objection with x number of signatures' (not as one objection). No one from the council got up a petition (or if they did it was as a private individual, not as an officer of the council). That is just ridiculous to say that. It's no skin off the Council's nose whether most developments go through or not.

The development will not necessarily be refused because someone has complained.

Hope this helps.

http://www.planning-applications.co.uk/objection.htm

zappahey

poppysarah wrote: »

really?!!
Didn't know that.


I always thought people should be encouraged to make their own complaints about things - I will bear this in mind in future when campaigning.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

planning_officer

vax2002 wrote: »

If the council get wind there is discontent they play a very nasty trump card.
They get one of their local dormant foot soldiers to go round knocking on doors with a petition AGAINST the development.
Locals sign the petition thinking that they no longer have to object now as they have already signed the petition with sometimes dozens of others.
However a petition counts as 1 objection in planning, despite the number of signatures.
Yes it is very sneaky, it is deception, but it is legal.

This is ridiculous! No idea what gives you this idea - and it's completely irrelevant anyway. The sheer number of letters, emails, objections, signatories on a petition carry no weight at all - it's the content and the nature of the objections that matters. Any objections made on planning grounds (design, impact on neighbours, highway issues) are all relevant and assessed, whereas those on non-planning grounds (loss of view, loss of property value) are not. Nobody from a Council would go around and drum up a petition - like seven-day-weekend says, the planning officer probably doesn't give two hoots whether a development is actually passed or not - the job is to come to a recommendation based on planning policies and other material considerations.

Going back to the original post, there are no rules - it doesn't matter how many letters a household send in. I've had up to 10 letters from a single household before. It's annoying when they all say the same thing, as the sheer number makes no difference. But, if everyone wants to make separate points, then it's fair enough and they're all taken into account. Other people write several times as they keep thinking of additional points issues to raise - again, that's fine. There are simply no rules on how many letters you or your household can send in, but bear in mind it is the content of them that is important, not the number.