A planning application must go through a number of stages
before permission is granted or declined for the application. This
is explained in detail below.
Officer consideration stage
Once the application has been registered and
the consultation letters sent out the application is passed to the
Planning Case Officer.
The Council aims to determine most applications
within 8 weeks of receipt (13 weeks for major
applications).
Neighbours and consultees are given 3 weeks for
comment, although this may be extended at the Case Officer's
discretion.
When the Case Officer has visited the site and
received all comments he/she will write a report recommending that
planning permission is either refused or granted. At the discretion
of the Case Officer, amendments to the plans or additional
information can be requested if he/she thinks this will enable an
application to be more favourably considered. Whether amendments
are requested in any particular case will depend on the nature and
extent of changes required. If wholesale redrawing of plans would
be required, the Case Officer may decide that there would be
insufficient time to determine the application within the
statutory deadline (taking account of the need for reconsultation)
and either determine the application as submitted, or give the
applicant the oportunity to withdraw, with the option of submitting
a revised application at a later date, once the concerns have been
addressed.
Amended plans
Unless the change is very minor (and this
should first be discussed with the planning officer) we are unable
in most cases to consider amended plans during the
determination of a planning application. This is because, once the
process has begun, there will often be insufficient time to
determine the application within the statutory deadline, given the
need to reconsult neighbours etc again. Applicants are
encouraged to obtain advice before
submitting an application.
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Development
Control Committee
Not all planning applications are reported
to the Council’s Development Control Committee. If the application
is not contentious and falls within the Council’s Scheme of
Delegation the application will be decided by the Development
Control Manager.
In other cases the application will be reported
to the Development Control Committee (made up of locally
elected councillors) which sits on a three-weekly cycle. The
Committee will then decide on the application.
Whilst every planning application is evaluated
on its own merits, certain factors that will be taken into account
by the Case Officer include:
- Compliance with adopted planning policies (in the Dacorum
Borough Local Plan and Hertfordshire Structure Plan);
- Incorporation of sustainable development measures such as
water conservation and renewable energy provision;
- Proposed means of access and impact on highway safety;
- Adequacy of car parking;
- Impact on neighbours;
- Impact on the street scene;
- Design, siting and external appearance;
- Availability of infrastructure, such as roads and water supply;
and
- Proposed use of the development.
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Speaking at Committee
Agents, applicants and interested members of
the public can register to speak at the
Development Control Committee in respect of any application
they have an interest in. Each speaker is allowed 3 minutes only.
If more than one person wishes to speak for or against an
application, it is requested that they elect one of their party to
speak on behalf of all.
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Decision Notice
When the decision is made a Decision Notice
will be sent to the applicant or agent (if the applicant has
appointed an agent). If full planning permission is granted the
permission is normally valid for three years from the date of the
decision.
Please note that if planning permission is
granted there may be conditions which require the submission of
further details, for example, samples of materials, or landscaping,
prior to the commencement of the development.
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View a decision on an application
If you wish to find out what the Council's
decision was on a planning application, please follow this
link to search and view planning
applications on-line. Please note that records only go back as
far as 1997.
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Third party appeals and ombudsman
complaints
Although there is provision within the Planning
Act for applicants to appeal against the decision of the Council,
there is no provision for neighbours or other aggrieved third
parties to appeal against the grant of a permission by the
Council. It is possible, however, for third parties to
challenge the method by which a decision was reached, for example
if they think that procedures were not properly followed. In such
cases, the agrieved party should write to the Local Government
Ombudsman.
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