Planning permission : lack of publicity but approved anyways.

user1977

lemonizer said:

Yes, the notice exists. My question is what happens when this notice is published in a newspaper that wasn't circulating in the locality. It usually is, but on this one occasion it wasn't.

If anybody had noticed during the period for objections, they could have made that an objection - which sometimes happens (e.g. neighbours who claim they haven't had a notification) - but at most that might just extend the period for objections after fresh notifications/advertisement.

As Section62 says, immediately after the consent is granted then it is possible to apply for a judicial review, which in theory could overturn a decision if the procedure was sufficiently irregular.

But you can't do anything after this length of time - after all, people need to be able to rely on the fact the permission exists, without also doing detective work into things like how it was advertised at the time.

Presumably neighbour notifications happened? And it was on the council's website? Did it get decided via a committee? (which itself would have had its own agenda/minutes publicised, notification to relevant councillors, etc)

You also need to bear in mind the slim likelihood of better advertising having made any difference to the outcome.

Section62

sevenhills said:

I believe local authorities have a legal duty to advertise in the local newspaper. I don't believe that there is any legal duty to advertise effectively, otherwise they would advertise on social media.
I did read about changes to this, but it could make the local newspapers unprofitable.

It depends on the type of application.

The statutory minimum requirement is now for publicity on the authority's website for all applications, combinations of site notices or neighbour letters for applications of different types (but one or the other for all applications), and a newspaper notice for certain categories of application (but not all).

The principal means of publicity has shifted to the site notice and website.  Generally the newspaper notice is only required for applications where there could be a wider interest (e.g. listed buildings, conservation areas, departures from the DP)

The requirement is only to place the notice in the newspaper (and ensure it was printed).  There is no requirement to ensure any potentially affected/interested party was able to see a copy of the newspaper.  Some councils do ensure local libraries have copies (and some back issues) of the local paper they use for notices which would enable people who didn't buy a copy to read the notice if they wish.  The papers would be on open display (not kept in a locked filing cabinet) and no big cats of any description are kept on the premises.

user1977

Also, if anybody usually scrutinises the classified ads in the local paper for planning applications, then presumably they'll be aware that they missed that week's, and search out the details from another source? (before four years have elapsed...)

lemonizer

Just to confirm this is a major development in an AONB.

So would require the newspaper advert.

user1977

lemonizer said:

Just to confirm this is a major development in an AONB.

So would require the newspaper advert.

That doesn't affect the answers given above.

lemonizer

It does as the newspaper advert is statutory as in site notices.

The council delayed the site notices as it was not possible to visit the site until the 7th March.

ReadingTim

lemonizer said:

So would require the newspaper advert.

Which it got.  The requirement is to place the ad, not make people read it. As you have been told by multiple other posters.  

Furthermore, information regarding the application would also have been published on the council's planning website, and at the site of the proposed development, so it's not as if this was approved 'on the sly' and without publicity.  You are clutching at straws in your vain attempts to find minor procedural flaws as a way of reversing a decision made a significant length of time ago, and frankly you'd be better off spending your time and energy in coming to terms with what has happened. 

It's exhausting being a NIMBY isn't it?!?

user1977

lemonizer said:

It does as the newspaper advert is statutory as in site notices.

The council delayed the site notices as it was not possible to visit the site until the 7th March.

It doesn't affect the general advice that it's much too late to be attempting to unravel all of this. The planning permission was granted and is valid.

Section62

lemonizer said:

It does as the newspaper advert is statutory as in site notices.

The council delayed the site notices as it was not possible to visit the site until the 7th March.

In which case they should have considered extending the consultation period to give people more time to respond.

But that doesn't make the planning consent invalid.

Have you checked the consent to see how long the developer had to start work?

The only other thing you can do now is to make a complaint to the council that in the circumstances they should have made more effort to make sure that people had been able to find out about the application and have adequate time to comment.  After four years even this will be hard to do.

Once you exhaust the council's complaints process you can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.  They will investigate what the council did to see whether it was reasonable in the circumstances.  Note the LGO's guidance that you should normally make your complaint to them within 12 months of realising that the council has done something wrong, so this route is likely to only be available to you if you found out about the application/consent within the last year.

https://www.lgo.org.uk/make-a-complaint/fact-sheets/planning-and-building-control/publicity-given-to-a-planning-application-complaints-about

lemonizer

I'm not trying to get rid of the planning permission, as I said before the developer is doing a much better job than any of the local community ever has.

I'm just trying work out the madness of the planning system. Which I think is probably impossible as no-one, even the planners, knows what to do other than produce 1000s of pages of work that say nothing.

Random fun fact of the day. The EIA contained a section of demographics where everyone in the North West was black and unemployed. As in, no white people or anyone with a job
Somehow I don't think the local authority read that section :P