The service we provide
Planning aims to protect amenity and
the environment in the public interest. We are committed
to providing the best service for our customers and are constantly
looking for ways to make improvements. We aim to decide planning
applications within 8 weeks (13 weeks for majors). Other targets
are to acknowledge correspondence within 5 days of receipt and to
answer the telephone within 3 rings. We regularly check our
performance in meeting these targets.
We are investing in information technology to
help us process planning applications efficiently and to inform,
communicate with and consult you, our customers. Our web pages have
been expanded to offer more on-line information and
facilities, including:
- Publishing the Dacorum Borough Local Plan
- Publishing weekly planning application lists
- Publishing applications and plans received
- Consulting interested people about planning applications
- Enabling planning applications to be made electronically
- Providing local map based information
How do I complain if I am not happy with the service
I have received?
If you are not happy with any part of our
service, or have any sort of complaint to make, please contact:
James Doe, Head of Planning and
Regeneration
Dacorum Borough Council
Civic Centre
Marlowes
Hemel Hempstead
HP1 1HH
If you have any queries about the content of
the Planning and Building Control pages, please email Andy Parrish
(Senior Planner - Development Management).
Town and country planning
The planning system in this country tries to
ensure that buildings and land are used for the benefit of the
community as a whole. In the Planning Department we have to provide
scope for the development that Dacorum needs whilst, at the same
time, protecting the natural and man made environment.
The planning system emerged from the Public
Health Acts at the turn of the 20th century when industrial
towns were squalid, overcrowded and suffered appalling
environmental conditions. Town planning as we know it today came
about in 1947 with the Town and Country Planning Act. This has been
progressively modified and is now consolidated in the Town and
Country Planning Act 1990 and related Acts.
The Borough Council has a duty to ensure that
the requirements of the Town and Country Planning Acts and other
legislation are met. We take the views of the public into
consideration when planning applications are considered and when we
prepare development plans and guidance.
Planning process
The planning process is basically two-fold.
Spatial Planning prepares and reviews
the planning policies, proposals and detailed guidance/advice on
development within the Borough against which proposals for
planning permission will be assessed. They deal with the long term
land use planning of the Borough. Development Managementl deals with the day
to day determination of those
individual applications for planning
permission (including listed building consent, advert
consent etc) and ensures that they are consistent with the adopted
policies and guidance. The Planning Registry, Planning
Enforcement, and Conservation and Design sections feed into these
basic service areas. Land Charges, Property and Asset
Management and Special Projects come under the planning service as
they relate to the use of land.
The Planning Portal
To find out more about the planning system,
what it is for and why it is important to us all, visit the Planning Portal
(Opens in new window).
Structure of the planning service
Dacorum's planning service is divided into
a number of different departments covering different aspects of the
service and supporting each other. Follow the link to Planning Departments to find out what service
each department provides.