Member

On the second purpose, the pre-application process is essential in enabling those affected to have the details openly shared and questions answered before the legal process of planning begins. The argument for continuing to engage and consult at the pre-application stage is the subject of later amendments and can be discussed in detail at that point. Equally, improving the planning process should enable democratic decision-making for those applications which are of a considerable size or impact, generate a large number of objections, or are not completely in line with the council’s local plan. These parameters should be decided by each individual council and not subject to a centralising diktat. There are already standards for completion of planning applications, and democratic decision-making is not the problem that it is made out to be.