We encourage the local community to get involved and have their say in what goes on in their local community, and this includes local planning applications and developments.
If you want to have your say on a planning application currently under review with us, you can leave a formal comment in our online portal.
Before sending any comments, we recommend you read our privacy statement which explains how we protect your personal data, as well as the terms and conditions for using the comment feature online.
When you make a comment, you can ask to receive an email to confirm that we’ve received your comment.
For longer comments, we advise that you first write this in another application, such as Word, and paste it into our system. This will prevent you from losing your comment if our system times out.
Please make sure you make your comments before the closing date for the application.
To find the date:
If your comments are submitted after the deadline, we will try to take these into account when making our decision, as long as they are received at least two working days before the decision is made.
We will only consider comments that relate to planning issues such as:
These matters are known as material planning considerations. You can learn more about what are material planning considerations on the Planning Portal.
We will not consider such issues as:
We do not consider comments that are racist, sexist, homophobic, defamatory or offensive. If you see find an offensive comment, you can report it to us using our online form.
Online comments will appear immediately. Comments sent by post can take up to two weeks to appear online.
We don’t respond to individual comments.
When applications are due to be discussed at our planning committee, we will update the online planning application to let you know. You can ask to speak at the meeting.
Please note, we are not legally obliged to post comments submitted to us on our website. We reserve the right to decide what to display and when. Comments sent to us will be considered even if we have not published it on the website.
Comments can be sent to us via our website as explained above, or by post. Comments sent by any other method, including by email, without prior agreement, will not be taken into account.
Most people use our website as this is the most reliable way to send comments to us. Posting letters is less reliable since they take longer to be delivered and processed.
The decision must be taken in accordance with the development plan, unless there are material considerations that indicate otherwise.
In addition, the National Planning Policy Framework represents up-to-date government planning policy and is a material consideration that must be taken into account where it is relevant to a planning application or appeal. This includes the presumption in favour of development found at paragraph 14 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
A material planning consideration is one which is relevant to making the planning decision in question (e.g. whether to grant or refuse an application for planning permission).
The scope of what can constitute a material consideration is very wide. However, in general planning is concerned with land use in the public interest, so that the protection of purely private interests such as the impact of a development on the value of a neighbouring property or loss of private rights to light could not be material considerations.
We will take into account all representations received from neighbours and other interested parties about material planning considerations.
Whether a particular consideration is material will depend on the circumstances of the case.
After any material considerations are taken into account, as the council and decision maker, it is our responsibility to decide what weight is to be given to each one. We are guided by the law on how these are defined and weighted.
An application can only be refused for "planning reasons" and not because of the number of objections.