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How to comment

An article deposited in the House of Commons Library titled Influencing the planning process (England) and published on 31 August 2023 states that a Local Planning Authority will decide a planning application in line with relevant policies in the following documents.
When commenting on a planning application, material or relevant considerations include the following.
South Hams District Council (SHDC) list the steps to take when browsing the SHDC webite to submit a prepared comment about a Planning Application. Outlined below are issues to consider when submitting a comment.

SHDC Development Policies

The general public can upload comments to the Planning Register to support or object to most types of planning application. If comments are uploaded within the cut-off date for accepting comments, comments which abide by the rules are published on the register and are considered against latest guidelines which are also published on the SHDC web site. On 10th November 2023 these guidelines were downloadable as a PDF document (referred to above as the Local Plan) at https://www.southhams.gov.uk/your-council/council-plans-policies-and-reports/policies/planning-policies/plymouth-and-south-west. This document is titled the Plymouth & South West Devon Joint Local Plan 2014-2034 March 2019. It states that the following policies apply relating to transport under DEV29.
  1. Consider the impact of development on the wider transport network.
  2. Provide safe and satisfactory traffic movement and vehicular access to and within the site.
  3. Ensure sufficient provision and management of car parking in order to protect the amenity of surrounding residential areas and ensure safety of the highway network.
  4. Limit / control the overall level of car parking provision at employment, retail and other destination locations.
  5. Provide for high quality, safe and convenient facilities for walking, cycling, public transport and zero emission vehicles.
  6. Mitigate the environmental impacts of transport, including impacts on air quality, noise pollution, landscape character and the quality and distinctiveness of urban and rural environments.
  7. Incorporate travel planning, including Personalised Travel Planning (PTP), which helps to maximise the use of sustainable transport in relation to the travel demands generated by the development and limit the impact of the development on the road network.
  8. Ensure that access and infrastructure delivered as part of the development meets the need for walking, cycling and public transport connectivity both within the development and in the wider area alongside supporting place-shaping objectives.
  9. Contribute to meeting the wider strategic transport infrastructure needs generated by the cumulative impact of development in the area.
  10. Locate new homes in locations that can enable safe, secure walking, cycling and public transport access to local services and amenities.

Cut-off dates for comments

Submitting comments prior to the cut-off date, which are shown on site notices, eliminates any risk of submitting late. Indeed comments are not accepted after a decision is determined. These cut-off dates can either be found by downloading and viewing site notices which are listed in the uploaded documents for each application on the on-line Planning Register, or by reading notices which are pinned up on hedges, sign posts and buildings local to the development site.

Development rights under Class Q and Class R

A planning application under Class Q caters for conversion of an agricultural building to a dwelling house and Class R caters for conversion to commercial enterprises, like for example hotels. In order for applicants to be given Class Q or Class R permitted development rights, the developer must apply to the local planning authority for a determination as to whether prior approval of the authority will be required as to the following issues. This is according to legislation stated under The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 downloaded from https://www.legislation.gov.uk on 12th November 2023. The issues which I have listed below are common to Class Q and R. Class Q issues also cover the siting of the building and external appearance of the building. However, under these laws, which were introduced in 2014 for Class Q and 2015 for Class R, development proposals will be subject to less scrutiny due to the way in which such issues may be interpreted as outlined in paragraph W of the legislation. Indeed this paragraph makes no explicit reference to the need to consider the sustainability of the site. For example, regarding transport and highways impacts of the development, the legislation may be interpreted to mean that there is no consideration of the cumulative impact of traffic which such developments will add to local roads so long as access in the vicinity of site out to where the property joins the public highway is safe. If this is the case, this legislation does not cover access to shops and services or public transport.
Having said this, in spite of Class Q and Class R legislation making no explicit reference to wider implications of the impact of a submitted development, this does not mean that South Hams District Council is not compelled to consider issues which are not stated in Class R and Class Q. For example, if a comment is submitted by a member of the public which states compelling evidence that roads in the neighbourhood are hazardous, as part of the process for granting or refusing permission to develop the site, the Local Planning Authority will have a duty of care to consult with the local highways authority who will then be compelled to consider the safety of the existing road network and whether the development will make these roads less safe. The highway authority will then have to report their deliberations to the local planning authority who will then have to take their views into account when making their decision to grant or refuse development rights.

Examples of correspondence with South Hams District Council