Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services that sought approval to adopt the revised Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) attached as an Appendix to the report.

The Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board (4) considered the consultation draft at their meeting on 18th March 2021 (their minute 28/20 referred). A Briefing Note of their recommendation to Cabinet that they note that the Board supported the Statement of Community Involvement in principle, was attached as a further Appendix to the report.

The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (Section 18) required Local Planning Authorities to produce a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) which explained how they will engage communities and other interested parties in producing their Local Plan and determining planning applications.

The current SCI was adopted in 2012 and required updating to ensure that it reflected current planning practice and guidance and provided resilience to enable consultation and engagement to adapt to exceptional and unforeseen circumstances such as, although not exclusively, those highlighted by the current Covid-19 pandemic.

The planning process had to comply with a variety of legal procedures in terms of public consultation and engagement. The SCI set out how the Council would address these and how the public could expect to be engaged and kept informed. It also set out local standards for consultation and engagement. This applied to both Planning Policy, setting out how the process would be undertaken when preparing new or revised policy documents, and to Development Management in relation to the planning applications process.

A new SCI had been produced and whilst there was no legal requirement to consult on it, it was considered good practice to do so. Public consultation was undertaken for a period of six weeks from 15th February to 29th March 2021. The responses had been analysed and the SCI amended accordingly. A further Appendix to the report contained the schedule of summarised comments received and the officers’ responses to each, including any changes made to the SCI as a result.

The new SCI would be published on the Council’s website.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet adopts the Statement of Community Involvement attached as an Appendix to the report.