Better Transport

When working to influence the planning process:

• Respond to the planning application
• Get as many people as possible to respond
• Try to get the application called in

When your local authority is reviewing its local plan (known now as the Local Development Framework or LDF) or drawing up new plans, you could try and persuade it not to safeguard the route in the plan. In order to gain planning permission, the scheme should be in the local plan. If there is doubt over the future of the project it can be argued that the route should not be included in the plan because it would cause blight.

To find out the review schedule for the different parts of your local development framework, and how you could input into it, contact your local authority.

Influence planning applications
Your strategy should be to:

• Find out when the planning application is likely to be published
• Prepare for the application, by creating a strategy and drafting publicity
• Once the application is out, try to get as many objections as possible

This will all happen very fast, and you will have only a few weeks to mount your campaign and mobilise objections. Most road groups find this the hardest and most stressful part of their campaign. But don’t worry, you will survive it! A little bit of forward planning will go a long way.

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Good idea: With his group Bypass the Bypass, Guy Dickinson put leaflets through thousands of doors asking people to object to the Weymouth Relief Road. Altogether 6,000 letters against the road were received, compared to just 2,000 in favour. 

 

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If in the end the council grants permission for the road, they still have to get funding approval from the Government and so all is not lost. Remember that the ultimate goal is to persuade the council not to grant planning permission, but this is highly unlikely, seeing as it is their own road! So your next ambition should be to mobilise as many objections as possible. Hopefully if you create enough controversy, you can persuade the government to 'call in' the planning application. Also you can use the planning application period as a publicity opportunity to raise as many concerns about the road as possible. Press release your objections, and the objections of other key bodies such as a Natural England.

Planning applications for local road schemes have to follow the same procedures under the Town and Country Planning Act (General Regulations) 1992 as other planning applications.

The council will be applying to itself for planning permission. The ‘applicant’ (in this case the Highways Department, or other such name) will apply to the planning department in the council. You will need to establish a good working relationship with the planning department. Contact them and find out who will be deaing with the planning application, explain your group will be mobilising objections and ask how the planning department would like to receive them. Suggest that an online facility for objecting would be very useful.

The applicant will have to advertise the application locally. It is likely that for a road scheme your local newspapers will carry a story about it. Be sure to get a copy of the advert to see how the council is advertising its application.

Brief overview of the planning application process:

• Council prepares a planning application
• Council publishes the planning application and environmental statement
• People have three weeks to comment on the application
• Planning officers prepare a report for the council’s planning committee
• The planning committee decides whether to grant application
• The Government Office decides whether to 'call in' the application
  If there’s no call in, the council makes a final decision about the application

Get the application
Most councils put a full copy of their application up on their website. Ask the highways department of your council to do the same, so that it is accessible. If they refuse, you could make arguments about Freedom of Information and access to environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Councils have been known to make a copy of the planning application and environmental statement available to campaign groups like Campaign for Better Transport for free – it is worth asking. Otherwise a hard copy can be purchased, but typically can cost several hundred pounds. The council may make documents available on CD for a few pounds, or for free, but technical drawings and maps may not be particularly legible on an electronic copy.

Otherwise you are going to have to view the application at the council offices during the day.

The planning application will be a huge document, and has to include an environmental statement. Make sure you see all the documents which are supplied with the planning application – including the Stage 3 Scheme Assessment Report, which will include technical information about the road and the economic case for it. The planning application form itself will also be accompanied by a list of landowners/occupiers which can be helpful - these people may be against the route going through their land. Not all the documents which comprise the planning application may be included on a CD version, which may just contain the environmental statement.

Planning applications vary in quality. Have an initial read to identify what the key issues are. There might be an Appraisal Summary Table, although this is not required, which would give you key information, for example about extra traffic and carbon emissions the road is expected to generate.

You will have to act very quickly. Usually, you only have three weeks  to respond.

You should be aware of the provisions contained in the Statement of Community Involvement which your council has adopted and likely posted on its website. It may contain provisions which allow for an extension of the consultation period for a big planning application.

Example: Huntingdonshire District Council's statement of community involvement

It's very important you get as many people as possible to object to the application.

Writing an objection to a planning application
Your group should split the tasks of mobilising objections, and writing the group response.

Leave plenty of time to write a good objection, covering all the right issues

Example: The objection the Hastings Alliance sent in

When considering whether to approve a planning application, the planning officers and the members of the planning committee will consider how the application stacks up to planning policy. They will consider local, regional and national planning policy.
Your objection needs to argue against this road on these lines.

• Read up on national policies
• Review your regional and local plans, which are online and in libraries

Your response should also mention alternatives to the road scheme. Remember to back up all your arguments with evidence.  

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Good idea: Margaret Willmot of Salisbury Campaign for Better Transport wrote to object to the planning application for a new road. The detailed, well-referenced letter set out many clear flaws with the road proposal, including lack of compliance with the area's development plan, a failure to establish a need for the road and environmental and safety concerns. Margaret has several good campaigning tips.

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Lobby councillors on the planning committee
It is a good idea to contact the planning committee members ahead of the decision. You will be able to find out who they are from the council’s website. You should send them your objection and invite them to meet with you and your group to hear your views.

Speak at the council meeting
The planning officers will write a report to the planning committee (the ‘officers report’) outlining all the issues. They must address all objections and answer them. This will be circulated a few days ahead of the planning hearing.

You will be allowed a few minutes to address the planning hearing. It is a good idea to ensure it the whole hearing is recorded as you may need to use this as evidence later if the correct procedure is not followed. Nominate the best spokesperson for your group and plan carefully what you want to say. Keep to facts, not emotion, so your points are a matter of record.

The committee will have a vote and may pass a resolution to grant planning permission, although there might be conditions attached to it.

Consider whether to push for the road to be called in.