Planning Committee

For Planning Committee Decisions please go to Committee Decisions in the Planning Services section of the website.

The Planning Committee is one of the Council's three Regulatory Committees, which have responsibility for "quasi-judicial" functions.

Quasi-judicial functions include imposing conditions, limitation or terms, making charges and any enforcement action (including prosecution). These functions cannot be undertaken by the Executive, therefore the Regulatory Committees have been established to deal with them.

The Planning Committee specifically has responsibility for functions relating to;

  • town and country planning and development control;
  • planning and conservation matters which include the determination of planning applications; and
  • to confirm or otherwise deal with Tree Preservation Orders, to which objections have been made.

How the Planning Committee Operates

The Planning Committee only decides a relatively small proportion of all the planning applications submitted. The rest are decided by senior planning officers. The full functions and responsibilities of the Planning Committee, and the powers delegated to senior officers can be found in the Council's Constitution .

All reports to the Planning Committee contain a section where points or issues raised by third parties, including neighbours and other members of the public, are set out for the Committee's consideration. Letters are not, however, set out in full. If you would like any or all of the members of the Planning Committee to see a full copy of your letter and/or any other material (e.g. photographs) you must send it directly to each member of the Committee at their home address in advance of the Committee meeting. Council officers must remain impartial and cannot therefore distribute such representations to members on your behalf.

The Committee may also visit some or all of the application sites prior to the meeting. You are not able to speak to the Committee during the visit. Particularly for those sites which Members do not visit, our officers may present video footage of the site so the Planning Committee can be made aware of relevant details of the site and its surroundings.

Members of the public, including applicants, agents and anybody either supporting or objecting to an application that is to be considered by the Planning Committee, can now speak to the Planning Committee at the meeting. Ward Councillors who are not members of the Committee may also be willing to speak on your behalf at the committee meeting. See the documents below for more information on how the Planning Committee works and a guide to speaking at a Planning Committee meeting.

For more details also visit How Decisions are Made

View our Planning Applications pages for more information on the Planning process.