Dear villagers,

Here is my latest newsletter for the week commencing 22nd. October, on schedule! The next one will be published during the week beginning 3rd. December.

I'm writing this the day after the Rugby World cup final in the belief that reviewing the great things that happen locally will revive my seriously flagging spirits! The other thing I have decided to do that is a bit different, is to run a second "Planning Primer" After the first attempt in my previous issue I received a lot of positive feedback. However I'll try and make this one a bit shorter but feature a new aspect of planning in each newsletter.

The Pharmacy

Apart from the inventory policy, the other big concern for many people locally was that they were planning to erect an illuminated sign in our Conservation Area. The latest information I have is that the new sign will not be illuminated and will be in keeping with the surroundings.

The New Police Office and Toilet Block

This was officially opened on 28th. September by the M.P. for North East Hampshire, Rt. Hon. James Arbuthnot. I was pleased to see the East Hampshire District Council engineer responsible for the new building in attendance, Mr. Brian Redwood, as well as PCSO Leggat and our sector Police inspector, Insp. Rickwood. I think the way the Police plan to use the new office is excellent. It is well stocked with useful literature, is quite welcoming inside and best of all there is a notice on the door telling us when the Police will next be present in the office. Now that PCSO Leggat has a mobile 'phone and has started contributing to that excellent publication, Parish Scene, I do feel we are now as well supported by the Police locally as we ever have been.

The block represented a large capital investment by EHDC and, I'm told, it is already showing a significant increase in usage. It is technically quite smart with its CCTV system and intelligent use of daylight and artificial light to ensure the latter is only used when there is insufficient of the former. It complies with all the latest legislation including facilities for parents with babies and for disabled users. It's worth noting that EHDC financed the Police office as well as the toilet block.

You may remember I said that I hoped it would win an award. Well last week I heard that the British Loo Council has awarded it the coveted 5 Star status which makes it eligible for the Regional finals and ultimately a National award. I'll keep you posted on progress.

Planning Applications

The District Council has now received a planning application from the Primary Care Trust for the redevelopment of the Clinic Site. This application should be viewable at the Parish Council offices by now, but it might be worth telephoning in advance to be sure, as it only came in during the week ended 19th. October. Alternatively you can view it on the EHDC website. I am sure this will generate a lot of debate. For me, the usual rules apply, which are that I cannot take a position or express a preference in advance, but as always I am happy to advise both objectors and supporters of the most effective way to get their views taken into account.

There has also been a planning application for three dwellings on a corner site on the Waggoners Estate. Most of what I said above also applies to this application.

Permitted Development Rights

PDS Ltd. continue to distribute their flyers around the village. I covered this matter extensively in my previous newsletter and the basic advice from me remains the same; Please take care. If you are in any doubt, please read that newsletter and then call me or the Planning department at EHDC.

Butserfest

I don't often report on general EHDC matters here but this one stands out for me. This event was held on Saturday, 15th. September and it was, what older folk would call, a pop music festival. The target audience was up to about 20 years of age and the bands, who played all day long, were chosen for that market. The headline band was Eliot Minor who had entered that charts at 19 just two weeks previously.

What is remarkable is that the event was put on by the District Council in all respects, organisation, finance, booking of bands, administration on the day, everything. It proved to be a huge success with the young folk who came, their parents, the bands, the bands' managers, the neighbours and the managers of the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, where it was held.

Naturally alcohol and drugs were not permitted and with rigorous searching and continued surveillance I am sure none found their way into the event. There was not one Police incident all day. There were two very minor accidents one involving over enthusiastic "moshing" and one person who became rather cold as the evening fell, but with fully qualified paramedics on site all day they were dealt with quickly and effectively.

If you are a relative or friend of young people who will be under 20 next year, tell them to look out for tickets for Butserfest 2008 which are likely to go on sale around June/July.

Grayshott Archive

On the same day as the opening of the Police Office and toilet block, the Grayshott Archive took the opportunity to show off their significant achievements to me and James Arbuthnot. I never cease to be amazed at the dedication of this group and the incredible database of Grayshott's history that has been built up in documents, photos and video. Like all volunteer organisations, they need financial help and they are inviting all of us to make a small annual subscription to become a "friend". If you want to know how to do this, just drop me a line and I'll put you in touch.

Planning Primer - 2

This time I thought I'd go back to basics and talk about the protagonists in a planning application and the regulatory framework. It will tell you what you can and can't do and explain why.

The Participants

The Applicant is person who submits a planning application. Interestingly they need not own the property which is the subject of the application; I could submit a planning application about your house!

The Determining Authority is the District or Borough Council, (or Unitary authority in the case of a city). For Grayshott, the determining authority is East Hampshire District Council. Once the authority has approved an application that is, for all practical purposes, the end. There is, practically speaking, no right of appeal against a grant of permission. If it refuses an application, the applicant can appeal to the Government's Planning Inspectorate.

The Planning Inspectorate is a government department based in Bristol which polices the process of Development Control, (which we normally refer to as Planning). If an application is refused, the applicant can appeal to the Inspectorate. The Inspectorate will examine the District Council's decision to see if it complies fully with the regulatory framework. They can dismiss the appeal or uphold it. In the case of EHDC very few appeals are upheld even though we have a higher than average refusal rate. There is no right of appeal to the Inspectorate against a grant of permission. For practical purposes there is no appeal against a decision of the Inspectorate.

"For practical purposes". I have used this phrase in the preceding two paragraphs when I cannot say "there is no...", because in fact there are a very small number of very specific, very tightly defined grounds for appeal in these situations. In nearly nine years as a Councillor and having seen about 2000 planning applications, I can tell you that these obscure rights of appeal have never been used despite occasional local anger at some decisions.

Objectors are people who disagree with a proposed planning application. Within the Settlement Policy Boundary, (see previous newsletter), the law is stacked against objectors because of the legal presumption of approval. Although this has taken on a different legal form in recent years, it is still at the heart of the British planning system.Also, as stated, there is, practically, no right of appeal available to an objector against a grant of permission.

Consultees are people who are asked for their opinion about an application. They must provide a written opinion. Some are statutory and some are invited at the discretion of the determining authority. Typically an application in Grayshott will go out for consultation to the Parish Council, the highway authority, immediately adjacent neighbours whose property adjoins the application site and government agencies such as DEFRA, English Nature and so on depending on specific issues such as flood risk or heritage.

Basically no-one else is involved. Sometimes applicants and objectors employ agents, often architects, to represent them. The determining authority carries out its role through its officers and their decisions are subject to review by councillors. But no other entity is routinely involved.

If an application is complex, marginal or highly controversial in the community, the council officer's decision can be reviewed by councillors at one of the monthly Area Planning Committees. EHDC has two committees, one for the south of the district and one for the north and I sit on Area North Planning. Once the Area Planning Committee has made it's decision, that is final subject to review by the Planning Inspectorate and the small exceptions referred to above.

If a District Council makes a decision that is materially in conflict with its own policies then the Government Office of the South East, (GOSE), may "call in" the decision for review. Some objectors have assumed this was their right of appeal against a grant of permission, but it is not; the conflict with local policies must be extreme serious and typically GOSE would only look at a major planning application involving a great many houses or a significant industrial site. Sometimes the District Council refers itself to GOSE if it thinks it might be about to make such a decision in order to get it sorted out before actually making the decision.

If the District Council has failed to carry out its duty then residents can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman, but this body cannot interfere in the planning decision, which will stand even if the case for maladministration is proved.

The Regulatory Framework

All of this is governed by the various Town and Country Planning Acts commencing in 1947 and undergoing numerous revisions ever since. The process is, therefore, about the law.

This point is vital to understand. Despite opinion to the contrary, planning decisions cannot be made based on what is deemed to be nice or ugly, good or bad and other subjective assessments. Some authorities take the subjective route, but have a very poor success record on appeal. In EHDC we take care to ensure our decisions are legally correct as well as being fair and reasonable.

The statutes, of course, only provide the general principles of planning. The law allows local authorities to extend these principles and adapt them specifically to local circumstances. In order to do this, every few years the determining authority produces a document with the weight of the law, called The Local Plan. Confusingly, the next one will be called the Local Development Framework, but the substance of it is not that different.

The Local Plan for East Hampshire District is, in broad terms, the town and country planning legislation tailored for the district. It is very rare for anyone to have to go back to the statutes to understand how an application should be decided - almost everything can be found in the Local Plan. To ensure the legal integrity of the Local Plan, it has to undergo an exhaustive scrutiny by the government's Planning Inspectorate, which can take over a year to complete.

East Hampshire District Council must make its decisions in accordance with the Local Plan. The Planning Inspectorate have many sanctions, including taking the determining power away from us, if we fail to do so.

The other major element of the framework apart from the Local Plan is the government's regime of "Planning Policy Statements" called PPSs. The most famous PPS is called PPS3 which defines the minimum density of development within a Settlement Policy Boundary as 30 dwellings to the hectare. All PPSs are enforced by the Inspectorate. Whilst they are not, strictly, part of the legal framework, their weight comes from the written intent of the government to enforce them through the Inspectorate. Eventually PPSs get swept up in legislation, so they are really a way for the government to tell the planning authorities like EHDC what they have to do without the frequent need to pass primary legislation through Parliament.

So why are Councillors involved?

Good question. Hard to answer. I take my role in development control very seriously, so I do things like research appeal cases to improve my understanding of how Planning Inspectors react to various decisions. I also read the PPSs, go on courses and talk extensively to the officers at EHDC who are all professionally qualified town and country planners. Why do I bother?

I think the answer to all these questions boils down to the "marginal" cases. There are quite a few applications in which it is arguable as to whether a policy applies or not, or, as is quite often the case, where conflicting policies apply. In these cases it is quite possible, given good information and training, to put an entirely proper, professional and well argued alternative to the view of the Council's officers. For applications in Grayshott that fall into this category, I share my developing thinking with the officers before I reach a conclusion. Sometimes this brings about a change in them, or me and sometimes not. So then we have a debate in the Planning Committee when all the other councillors can also contribute and it's then that I conclude how to vote. If, during the debate, I conclude that my analysis is more appropriate than the officer's analysis, I might add some oratorial dexterity to my argument to persuade other councillors, but the fact is that it is always firmly based on the legal principles relevant to the application.

And finally...

....Guy Fawkes' night is almost on us. Do remember that quite a few people and animals are upset by fireworks and so please make sure you have your fun in conformance with the law and also with as much consideration as is possible. I love fireworks and I really enjoy Pyrotechnics in Grayshott as well as having a few from a retail boxed set in my garden. This can all work amicably with a bit of give and take, just like most things in Grayshott!

As usual, if you want to comment on what I have said, or you wish to agree or disagree, just contact me by 'phone on 01428-609858 or email fcowper@aol.com

Best wishes,

Cllr. Ferris Cowper
EHDC Councillor for the ward of Grayshott and Leader of the Council