Just months into the biggest planning and local government shake up in a generation, Turley Belfast Office Director Michael Gordon provides some early thoughts…
The first round of Planning Committee meetings has passed off largely uneventfully. Applications decided have generally been of the garden variety, rather than controversial. Where the media has publicised controversy, Councillors have generally in fact followed the recommendation of their professional planners, with the reporting tweaked to support the prevailing narrative of a radical localism agenda. Debate between the Councillors on the planning merits of individual cases has been polite, with the emphasis on getting used to the process.
More public
A major change is that the end-game of the planning process is now conducted in public. Planning officers reports are generally made available to Councillors and the public at the same time in advance of the Committee meeting. Speaking rights for applicants and objectors at (almost) all Councils allow the key points to be made in person to the Committee before they discuss the case and also expose the presenters to questions from the Committee. Attendant planning officers have to be ready to provide clarification and guidance for the Committees as they come to a view. All of this is open to anyone to observe and, in many cases, available to review later on via the Council website.
Culture Change
Planning officers are approaching their task with the end in mind – the Committee. Meetings with officers in the last month have, in some cases, pointed towards a new mind-set. Specific advice has been given to agents about what issues the Council are most interested in, and what front loaded submissions are required to provide the opportunity for officers to present the application in the most positive way. Planning officers now have a key role in briefing the Committee. It is essential that applicants and agents provide sufficient information to ensure that the officers have all they need as they approach Committee with, hopefully, positive recommendations.
More professional
Planning officers have also had to up their game as they learn how best to present their recommendations to Committee and provide the guidance which is required to get non-delegated decisions made. The experience of the last month would suggest that they are relishing this fresh opportunity to apply their professional skills in a new way. Informal discussions with seasoned professional planners would suggest that they are applying themselves to preparing for planning committee meetings as if they were preparing for planning appeals. This new approach is a direct result of the shift in roles and the more visible nature of the job.
Community Consultation
While planning applications need not be preceded by a 12 week period of pre-application community consultation unless they are made after 1 July 2015, a clear steer from discussions with planning officers during the first month of the new system is that Councillors now expect to be made aware of what efforts applicants have made to consult. This is interesting as it points towards a system where engagement is increasingly recognised as standard (and good) practice, even where it is not a legal requirement. Prospective applicants would do well to consider how best to respond to this new aspect of the system.
Transitionary Issues
As is so often the case when systems change, the IT was not fully functional on day one and there have been challenging questions over practical and procedural issues associated with the many hundreds of planning applications, appeals and enforcement cases which were undetermined at the point of transfer. The Department has reported that progress is being made across these issues and they will soon be behind us.
Next Steps
In all likelihood it will take a little more time before there is sufficient confidence amongst all parties in the new system to bring forward genuinely controversial cases. The last month has been something of a pre-season friendly for the key players. The season proper will kick off in earnest soon.
Michael Gordon
Belfast Office Director
Turley
Michael.Gordon@turley.co.uk
https://twitter.com/turleyplanning