Appendix D
PROTOCOL – ORGANISATION OF DEVELOPMENT CONTROL
COMMITTEE SITE INSPECTIONS
1. This protocol has been prepared to establish procedures for the organisation of Development Control Committee site inspections.
2. This note should be read in association with the Protocol on Requests for Development Control Committee Site Inspections.
3. A Committee site inspection plays an invaluable role in the determination of more complex or controversial applications. Site inspections allow Committee Members to have first-hand experience and understanding of both the application site and the proposal. Site inspections also provide Members with the opportunity to view particular aspects of a site, the proposal, or the wider local environment raised at the Development Control Committee by officers, the applicant or objectors.
4. Committee Members should under no circumstances make decisions on applications during the site inspection itself.
5. Members should debate the proposal at the Committee meeting immediately following the site inspection, and take into account both the appropriate policies in the UDP and all other material planning considerations (both those inspected on site and others which may not have been considered directly on the site inspection). Planning Officers will make the appropriate arrangements for the Committee to gain access to sites or to address the Committee before, during or after the inspection.
6. The Development Control Committee site inspection provides the opportunity for Committee Members (including where appropriate the local Ward Member) to be briefed by planning officers on or around an application site. Neither members of the public (including supporters/objectors/Parish Councillors) nor the applicant (or the applicant’s agents) are permitted to participate in the site inspection.
7. Committee Members (including where appropriate the local ward Member) will not debate the planning application with either members of the public or the applicant during the course of the site inspection.
8. Committee Members (including where appropriate the local ward Member) will not debate the planning application with either members of the public or the applicant in the period between the termination of the Committee site inspection and the commencement of the Development Control Committee immediately following the site inspections. In the event that a site inspection takes place prior to the consideration of the application at Development Control Committee Members will consider their findings at the inspection with other material considerations at the meeting.
9. Committee Members (including where appropriate the local ward Member) will receive a group presentation from an appropriate planning officer at the outset of the site inspection.
10. Committee Members (including where appropriate the local ward Member) will be shown by an appropriate planning officer key elements of both the site and its wider environment (as appropriate).
11. Committee Members (including where appropriate the local ward Member) will ask the appropriate planning officer to clarify any matters of detail at the end of the group presentation.
12. Committee Members (including where appropriate the local ward Member) will remain as a single group throughout the full course of the site inspection as set out in Points 9 to 11 (inclusive) above.