Involving Parish Councils in pre-application discussions on planning applications
Hart District Council welcomes and encourages discussions with prospective developers before a planning application is submitted. Such discussions can assist in better quality applications, which have a better chance of a successful outcome for all parties. They can also reduce the number of points of contention in an application.
It is also important that local communities are involved in the early stages of planning applications and pre-application discussions. This early engagement should be timely, proportionate to the impact on the wider community and enable community representatives to inform and influence the proposals.
Providing a clear and informed response to an applicant is paramount to ensure that developers are encouraged to seek advice prior to submitting an application. The Council has key targets in relation to pre-application advice to which it should adhere.
These are:
· To acknowledge a pre-application submission within 5 working days;
· To provide final response to a request within a maximum of 20 working days of the submission or 15 working days following any meeting
The Council will advise prospective developers to engage with Parish Councils, other interested third parties, neighbours, local communities and Councillors, as part of their pre-application proposals, separately from the District Council engagement. This would be set out in a ‘best practice’ note included with any response.
Information relating to pre-application advice is published on the Hart District Council website, however, some information, including the fact that the site may be available for development, can be commercially sensitive. In such circumstances pre-application discussions with the District Council may take place and, if requested by the applicant, this confidentiality will be maintained and no third party (including a Parish Council) will be informed that pre-application discussions have taken place. It must be remembered that with the exception of information received which is a matter of financial commercial sensitivity, the Council would have to disclose it in response to a Freedom of Information request.