4 Community Involvement and Development Plan Documents

4.1 The key Planning Policy documents in our Local Development Frameworkv (see Diagram 1) are called Development Plan Documents (DPDs).  These will include the Core Strategy, Development Control Policies and Land Allocations. The Statement of Community Involvement sets out how the Community will be involved in the preparation of Development Plan documents. Measures proposed are set out in ‘Appendix 5 - Consultation Procedures and Methods for Development Plan Documents and Supplementary Planning Documents’. The Council will also prepare Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) addressing matters of detail. Community Involvement in the preparation of these is described in Chapter 5.

General Principles

4.2 Anyone can be involved in the preparation of a Development Plan Document. We consult as widely as we can and include any organisation that wishes to be consulted. Any individual or organisation which wishes to be kept informed may, on request, be placed on an e-mail contact list. They will then receive e-mail notification of all new planning policy documentation and consultation processes.

4.3 A number of groups and organisations are either interested in planning issues, have statutory responsibilities or represent significant sections of the community or interest groups. We will consult the organisations listed in ‘Appendix 6 - Organisations to be Consulted on Relevant Development Plan Documents, Supplementary Planning Documents and Regeneration Initiatives’ on all development plan documents from issues and options stage onwards.

Performance Standard 7

LDF 1

DEVELOPMENT PLAN DOCUMENTS - WHO WE WILL CONSULT

WHAT WE WILL DO

WHY WE WILL DO IT
We will consult the organisations listed in Appendix 6 at every stage of the preparation of Development Plan Documents

If you or your organisation submit a written or e-mailed request with an email address to the Forward Planning Section, we will notify you by e-mail of the publication of all draft and adopted Development Plan Documents until you advise us in writing or by e-mail to cease.

So that any interested person or organisation who wishes to can be involved in the preparation of local planning policy documents

4.4 Consultation will be carried out in accordance with the Community Strategy and will be by means of the following measures as a minimum;

  • Local Development Documents to be placed formally in deposit locations in Lancaster and Morecambe;
  • Copies to be placed at the Public Libraries at Lancaster, Morecambe, Halton, Heysham, Caton, Kirkby Lonsdale, Hest Bank, Bolton-le-Sands, Carnforth, Warton and Silverdale and in the main libraries at Lancaster University, Lancaster and Morecambe College and St Martin’s College;
  • All parties identified in Appendix 6 will be notified by letter. Consultation will be by e-mail where possible but hard copies will be supplied on request;
  •  All written documentation proposals maps and supporting documentation to be made available on the Council’s website;
  • Documents to be advertised in the Lancaster Guardian and the Morecambe Visitor;
  • Meetings to be held with community and residents groups on request.

4.5 At the present time we cannot commit to more sophisticated and expensive measures such as Citizen’s panel, consultation through Focus Groups, Workshops or Planning for Real. This may change if the resource context changes in future.

Performance Standard 8

LDF 2

LOCAL DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENTS - HOW WE WILL CONSULT

WHAT WE WILL DO

WHY WE WILL DO IT
We will use the methods set out in p4.4 to consult on Development Plan Documents

We will acknowledge and consider all representations on Local Development Framework Documents. We will place all representations received, and how Development Plan Documents have been modified in response to them, on public record

So that consultation processes are fair, consistent and transparent

To ensure transparency and proper record keeping in the Local Development Document preparation process and to enable participants in the process to see how their views have been taken into account.


Feedback - What will happen to Representations received?

4.6 We will record all representations made. Anyone who makes a formal representation on a submission document and requests to be kept informed will receive written notification of the progress of the document to adoption.

4.7 A schedule setting out the representations that people have made, the Council’s response to them, its justification for that response and any proposed changes to the document proposed as a result of the comments will be published for inspection at each stage in the process.

Performance Standard 9

LDF 3

LOCAL DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENTS - FEEDBACK

WHAT WE WILL DO

WHY WE WILL DO IT
We will set out in a schedule of responses, all responses to Local Development documents at all stages which will set representations and changes made in response. This will be circulated to all parties making representations To ensure that people receive feedback on the comments that they make.


Access to Background and Information Documents

4.8 We are committed to open Government and will make available, both on paper and on line, key information base documents such as the Annual Housing Land Monitoring Report, the Urban Capacity Study, the Local Economy Monitoring Report, the Shopping and Town Centres Monitoring Report and the Housing Needs Study.

Access to Officers

4.9 Our Forward Planning Team has a strong commitment to community involvement and endeavours to make a professional officer available at all times during office hours. Contact may be made at the public inquiry counter, by telephone and by e-mail. You are welcome to discuss any aspect of planning policy.

The Development Plan Document Preparation

4.10 The stages of consultation are;

  • Consultation on Issues and Options;
  • Consultation on the Preferred Option;
  • Formal submission to the Secretary of State and formal consultation on the Submission Document;
  • Consultation on alternative sites put forward by objectors;
  • Independent Examination by a Planning Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State. (S)he will consider whether the Document is ‘sound’ (see p4.23). (S)he will then issue a ‘binding report’. This may require changes to the Document which the Council must make before it adopts the Plan.
  • Monitoring; The Council has to prepare an Annual Monitoring Report assessing the performance of Development Plan documents and recommending changes.

How to Take Part in Preparing a Development Plan Document

4.11 We are committed to inclusivity and openness and seek to reach out to all groups and organisations interested in the natural and built environment in Lancaster District. If you are interested, you should register your interest by letter or by e-mail with the Council’s Forward Planning team at the earliest possible stage.

4.12 Formal consultation processes are set out in Paragraph 4.4 and ‘Appendix 5 - Consultation Procedures and Methods for Development Plan Documents and Supplementary Planning Documents’. The new planning system relies on the principle of ‘front loading’. This means that consultation is commenced as early as possible and that consultees, stakeholders and anyone with an interest is able to have their say before a preferred option is agreed.

Stage 1 - Community Involvement on Issues and Options

4.13 Issues and Options Consultation is intended to be wide-ranging and informal. It will invite discussion on the objectives of the relevant Development Plan document and the options for achieving those objectives. The Council will not put forward specific proposals at this stage. Representations should be informal comments on issues, suggestions and options. You can comment at   ‘Issues and Options’ stage, by letter or by e-mail. You may also submit your own ideas for achieving the purposes of the document.

4.14 If you are requesting the allocation or alteration of a site, it is highly desirable that you engage at this stage so that community involvement and strategic environmental assessment can be undertaken through the process. Development proposals can be more robustly assessed if the site and proposed use is clearly defined (see p4.23);

Performance Standard 10

LDF 4

DEVELOPMENT PLAN DOCUMENTS - COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AT ISSUES AND OPTIONS STAGE

WHAT WE WILL DO

WHY WE WILL DO IT
Consult the bodies listed in Appendix 6 and the Local Strategic Partnership; allow a consultation period of 4 months To allow all interested bodies to engage with the plan preparation process

Stage 2 - Community Engagement on Preferred Options

4.15 At the Preferred Option stage, we will draw on Issues and Options consultation and sustainability appraisal to state the preferred option and other options considered and rejected.

4.16 Representations on preferred options should take the form of a formal objection or supporting representation. The Council will consider representations made on the Preferred Options Document. It will then work up a final document for submission to the Secretary of State together with a report of community involvement and an Environmental Report.

If you are requesting the allocation or alteration of a site at Preferred Option stage, you should define the site, the uses proposed, describe any community involvement you have undertaken and describe why you think the proposed site is a more sustainable option than those put forward by the Council.

Performance Standard 11

LDF 5

DEVELOPMENT PLAN DOCUMENTS - COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AT PREFERRED OPTIONS STAGE       

WHAT WE WILL DO

WHY WE WILL DO IT
Make all documentation available for public inspection (including website) for a period of six weeks at venues in both Morecambe and Lancaster;

Give notice by local advertisement in local newspapers for both Lancaster and Morecambe;

Notify all previous respondents by letter or email

 To maximise the opportunity to comment on the proposals before submission of the Development Plan Document

Stage 3 - Submission, Consultation and Independant Examination

4.17 Submission stage (when the Council formally submits the document to the Secretary of State) is the beginning of the formal statutory process to adopt the Document.

4.18 There is a six-week statutory deposit period during any representations must be made. 

Performance Standard 12

LDF 6

DEVELOPMENT PLAN DOCUMENTS - COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AT SUBMISSION STAGE

WHAT WE WILL DO

WHY WE WILL DO IT
Make all documentation available for public inspection (including website) for a period of six weeks at venues in both Morecambe and Lancaster;

Give notice by local advertisement in local newspapers for both Lancaster and Morecambe;

Notify all previous respondents by letter or e-mail;

Place additional copies in public, college and university libraries.

 So that anyone who wishes to participate in the Independent Examination process is able to do so.


How to make representations

4.19 Representations on the Submission Document must take the form, either of a supporting representation or an objection. Anyone can make a representation but it must be on planning grounds (see Figure 5) and focus on the question of whether the Document is sound (see Paragraph 4.23 below). If you wish your representation to be considered by an inspector, you must make a formal representation on the Submission Document.

4.20 You should use an objection form and set out:

  • Which policy or paragraph of the document is objected to;
  • What change you wish to be made to that policy or paragraph;
  • What planning reasons you think there are for making the change.

4.21 If you are making representations on a Submission Development Plan Document, you should bear in mind that the fact that an objection is made does not automatically mean that the Development Plan Document will be changed in response to that objection. The Inspector will consider your representation alongside all other representations, Government policy and Regional Spatial Strategy policy.

The Soundness of Development Plan Documents

4.22 In considering your representation, the Inspector at the Independent Examination will presume that the Document is sound unless evidence put before him/her demonstrates otherwise. The Inspector will consider whether the document;

  • has been prepared in accordance with the Local Development Scheme;
  • has been prepared in compliance with the statement of community involvement;
  • has been subjected to sustainability appraisal (see Paragraph 4.27);
  • is consistent with national planning policy and in general conformity with the Regional Spatial Strategy;
  • has properly had regard to other relevant plans, policies and strategies relating to the area or to adjoining areas;
  • has had regard to the Community Strategy;
  • is coherent and consistent within and between development plan documents prepared by the authority and by neighbouring authorities;
  • represents the most appropriate solution, having considered the relevant alternatives;
  • is founded on a robust and credible evidence base;
  • has clear mechanisms for implementation and monitoring; and
  • is reasonably flexible to enable it to deal with changing circumstances.

Objections seeking the allocation of a particular site

4.23 If your are requesting the allocation or alteration of a site at  submission stage, you must;

  • Define the site on an Ordnance Survey based scaled plan;
  • Define the use requested and the scale of such uses;
  • Identify the DPD or Saved Local Plan Policy that the proposed allocation relates to;
  • Demonstrate that Community Involvement has been undertaken;
  • Demonstrate that Sustainability Appraisal has been undertaken.

Allocations sought by Objectors

4.24 Where a Development Plan Document is concerned with land allocations, we must publicise alternative proposals put forward by objectors on sites which have not previously been considered. This is to allow affected residents to give them the opportunity to participate in the Independent Examination.

Performance Standard 13

LDF 7

OBJECTIONS SEEKING THE ALLOCATION OF LAND

WHAT WE WILL DO

WHY WE WILL DO IT
We will require objections which seek the allocation of a site for any purpose or the alteration of a site boundary in a Local Development Document to define the site clearly on an ordnance survey map and state the proposed use(s);

Following submission, we will publicise land allocations sought by objectors by;

Making suggested alternative sites available for public inspection (including website) and sent to DPD bodies,

Notifying all identified consultation groups and giving notice by local advertisement

We will also notify any nearby residents on similar basis as for planning applications

 To enable consultation on alternative sites to be carried out in an informative way and to ensure that alternative proposals are clearly understood by communities which might be affected by them.

To allow people to make representations on sites put forward by objectors


Stage 4 - Monitoring and Review

4.25 The Council continuously monitors and reviews all consultation documents. The Annual Monitoring Report will review the progress and effectiveness of all Development Plan Documents. The Annual Monitoring Report will be subject to consultation on a similar basis to Issues and Options Consultation.

Sustainability Appraisal vi

4.26 A key element of the Development Plan process is Sustainability Appraisal which is required to comply with EU environmental legislation. This means identifying the key environmental, economic and social impacts of the document and comparing options to make sure that the most sustainable option is chosen. Sustainability Appraisal begins at the evidence gathering stage with the preparation of a scoping report. A Sustainability Appraisal Report will be produced and