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 Village News Magazine |
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This page was last updated on
Sunday March 25, 2007
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| Report from the District Council Chamber |
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All too often in local Government it seems that our powers are limited and that the real decisions are taken by strangers in some distant place. However, local planning applications are an exception to this. Residents and councillors can have a very real say in the decision making process.
When planning applications are submitted to the New Forest District Council they are first examined by council staff from the Planning Service. These are the experts who check that the application meets national and local policy criteria. However, they cannot make the final decision themselves. They have to seek the views of Councillors. The final decision is taken at a meeting of the Planning and Development Control Committee, a group of 20 New Forest councillors.
This is a public meeting that can be attended by anyone, and any member of the public can speak to the committee. Commonly a neighbour might feel a plan for a new extension would invade their privacy. The committee members are just normal folk who can understand and relate to the concerns of neighbours and will listen sympathetically to what is said.
Of course the committee will hear arguments from all sides and there is no guarantee what their decision will be, but it is always nice when a plan comes together and local people win their case. A good example of this happened in December when three Marchwood planning applications that the Planning Officers wanted to approve were each rejected by the committee after presentations were given by local residents. |
Cllr Graham Walmsley
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