Planning Policy
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Heckington Parish Council (HPC) has no direct decision making jurisdiction on any planning application.
1.2 The Parish Council is a statutory consultee for all formal planning applications received at the Local Planning Authority (LPA) - North Kesteven District Council (NKDC). This includes applications for brand new developments, buildings within the Conservation Area, works to trees within the Conservation Area or with a TPO (Tree Protection Order) or any building or alterations which fall within the governance of the North Kesteven District Council planning policy and thereby where formal permission is legally required.
2.0 AIMS
2.1 As a statutory consultee, the Parish Council has the opportunity to submit comments relevant to each application. The aim is to provide balanced, fair and non-personal prejudiced comments with regard to applications submitted, in order to assist with the decision making process of the Local Planning Authority.
2.2 Any Councillor with either a pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest in a specific application is required to declare this fact, and will not take part in the consultation. Declarations of this nature will be minuted.
3.0 ACTIONS
3.1 Planning applications are reviewed by HPC as a whole and will seek to take a broad Parish perspective of any planning application received from the District Council.
3.2 The Clerk will forward all notifications of applications to all Councillors by email in the first instance.
3.3 All planning applications will be listed on the agenda for the next available Full Council meeting for ratification. Where planning applications are received outside of the normal meetings cycle, non-contentious applications will be dealt with through consultation with Councillors via email.
3.4 Where a planning application has been received after publication of the agenda the Clerk will email the Councillors to notify them of the late addition.
3.5 HPC will respond to all applications within the timeframe stipulated by the LPA, and the Clerk is responsible for submitting the comments on behalf of the consultee.
3.6 Where there are no specific comments to be submitted, the Clerk will update the application accordingly.
3.7 The Parish Council will consider all planning applications based on their individual circumstances and merits. All responses to planning applications will be based on material planning reasons (e.g. policy documents, design, impact on area, traffic).
3.8 Non-material considerations (e.g. moral issues, personal circumstances, property prices) will not form any part of the response to the District Council.
3.9 The Parish Council will not support tandem or ‘back fill’ development, especially in the central village, which is considered to be a high vehicular area and already densely inhabited.
3.10 The Parish Council will not, in general, comment on applications which do not affect the immediate street scene visuals eg buildings/conservatories at rear of properties.
3.11 Where an application has been deemed to not require specific HPC comments, but has attracted a substantial public response, HPC will request that the LPA takes the submitted residents’ views into account.
3.12 Where there is an application which might be considered to cause wider public concern, or if the initial email correspondence from Councillors suggests conflicting views, a meeting of the nominated Planning Committee Members will be called, or if necessary an extraordinary meeting of Full Council.
3.13 The Parish Council will support the installation of renewable energy sources and/or those which minimise carbon emissions or the use of fossil fuels, providing that such systems take full account of their visual impact and the surrounding countryside.
3.14 The Parish Council opinion will represent the majority local interest and comments will reflect local knowledge and interest in the local environment. The Parish Council will seek to ensure that any development, either new or for alterations to existing properties, will blend in and be sympathetic to the surrounding area.
4.0 SUMMARY
4.1 Pre-application advice can be requested by parishioners to provide some basic planning support and information, but we would remind residents that this should be sought from the Planning Department (Duty Planning Officer) at North Kesteven District Council. Parish Councillors are not qualified planners and do not make the final application decision.