Application for Planning Permission

INTRODUCTION OF 1APP: CONSULTATION ON LOCAL VALIDATION CHECKLISTS

Thank you for consulting Sport England on the above.

You will be aware that Sport England is a statutory consultee on planning applications affecting playing fields by virtue of Statutory Instrument No. 1817 (1996). Before Sport England can make a substantive response to any statutory consultation in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Amendment) (England) Order 2005 (and the related guidance in Circular 08/05), a minimum amount of information is required in order to make an informed assessment of the impact of any development proposal on a playing field. If this information is not provided with an application, Sport England requests that this be provided and a holding objection is made to the application in the interim of the information being provided. This often results in unnecessary delays to the determination of a planning application affecting playing fields.

In this context, Sport England would request that the list of local requirements be amended to include a section on playing field impact which outlines the information that should be submitted with planning applications that affect playing fields. This information is set out in paragraph 2.3 of Sport England's "Consultation arrangements for local authorities with regard to development that affects playing fields" document (2006), a copy of which I attach. This document can also be downloaded from Sport England's website at www.sportengland.org/guidance_for_las_on_play_fields_feb06_(3).pdf.

I would request that the content of paragraph 2.3 of this document be included in the local list and that a cross-reference is provided to the website link for further information. A link to PPG17 which provides guidance on developments affecting playing fields (paragraph 15 may also be helpful. I would also be happy for the guidance to encourage applicants to contact Sport England's regional office for further advice about information that should be submitted with an application affecting playing fields.

I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the types of application upon which Sport England would wish to be consulted as a non-statutory consultee, to assist the Council in deciding whether we should be consulted. The formal basis for non-statutory consultation with Sport England was established by the Department of the Environment's letter of 22 July 1996 to all chief planning officers. This letter sets out a definitive list of all sports-related planning applications upon which Sport England would wish to be consulted (a copy can be provided upon request). Examples of applications on this list include:

* Major indoor and outdoor sports facilities.
* Development involving the loss, or prejudicing the use, of existing sports facilities.
* Major residential developments of 300 dwellings or more.

I would be grateful if you could consult Sport England on these types of planning applications if the Council does not already do so.

I hope that this response is helpful to you in finalising the list of local validation requirements. Please contact me if you have any queries.

Local List Requirements, which concerns planning applications for: Full Planning Applications; Removal or Variation of Condition; Outline Planning Permission; Approval of Reserved Matters.



My comments are:



I am in general agreement with the National & Local list's, although I would like added as an additional document for Local List: "If the applicant for a Major Planning Application does not address Crime Prevention in their Design and Access Statement (DAS), then they must address it as a separate document in the local list"



My reason is that CLG circular 01/06 which introduced DAS's, states at paragraph 87: ""PPS1 makes clear that a key objective for new developments should be that they create safe and accessible environments where crime and disorder or fear of crime does not undermine quality of life or community cohesion. Design and access statements for outline and detailed applications should therefore demonstrate how crime prevention measures have been considered in the design of the proposal and how the design reflects the attributes of safe, sustainable places set out in Safer Places - the Planning System and Crime Prevention".

CABE updated their guidance document "Design & Access Statements - How to write, read and use them", in spring of 2007 and address how crime prevention should be included in a DAS as below:

Part 1, Page 8 - Statements should demonstrate how development can create accessible and safe environments, including addressing crime and disorder and fear of crime. These may be particularly relevant to address under layout and landscaping themes. Early consultation with police will help identify key issues in your local area, and measures to help address these. Safer places - the planning system and crime prevention (ODPM/Home Office, 2004) contains more information.

Part 2, page 15 - Under Layout it says, 'But for larger plans, the layout may be balancing a variety of design features such as solar gain, crime prevention and accessibility. In these cases, statements should clearly explain the design decisions that have been made.' It further says at one of the bullet points, 'It should explain how the layout contributes to making a place safer.'

Part 2, page 17 - Under Landscaping at the first bullet point it says 'Landscape design is about much more than plants. It should include all treatments of outdoor spaces, including street furniture, water features and road materials. The statement should show how the design of outside spaces will make them more attractive, safe, useful and environmentally responsible.'

Part 2, page 19 - Under Access it says at one of the bullet points, 'The statement should clearly show public and private space and explain how the design has helped make these areas safe.'

Part 3, page 25 - Under Layout at the fifth bullet point it says, 'Will public spaces be safe, overlooked and convenient? Windows, doors, shop fronts and access routes should be used to overlook and help keep public spaces safe, but they should not jeopardise people's private spaces.'

Part 3, page 25 - Under Layout at the sixth bullet point it says, 'Does the design address safety and crime prevention?'

Part 3, page 29 - Under landscaping it says at one of the bullet points, 'Will the landscape design support local character and image, and help define private and public spaces? Good landscape treatment can help makes places safe, attractive and successful. Safety, security and business success rely on clear definitions of who can do what where.'

Page 33 - Under Good Design Principles it mentions Safer places - the planning system and crime prevention which is a companion guide to PPS 1 and sets out seven attributes.

The reality has been that applicants have very rarely addressed crime prevention in any part of their major planning application let alone in their DAS, since they were introduced in 2006.



In the CLG document "The Validation of Planning Applications, guidance for local planning authorities", it says on page 9 under 'Current practice in validating planning applications' at point 13. Common reasons for invalidity are: Supporting documents that omitted information specified in the guidance notes accompanying the planning application form and/or set out in national guidance, statutory development plan or supplementary planning guidance.



It further says in the same document on page 13 under 'Local List' at point 18: Local Planning Authorities should be aware that a request post-validation for further information or supporting documentation will have no bearing on validity. Nevertheless, an application could still be deemed valid, and then refused on the grounds of inadequate information, if the documentation submitted was subsequently found to be inadequate.



The reality is as already said that applicants on major planning application almost always leave out in their DAS as to how they have addressed crime prevention in their proposed development. Yet to my knowledge no LPA has yet refused to validate a major planning application because of lack of this in their DAS, nor has any LPA to my knowledge refused a major planning application on the grounds of inadequate information, where it has been subsequently found that the DAS was inadequate as regards how the applicant has addressed crime prevention.



While some Local Planning Authorities take the view that the lack of a crime prevention component in a DAS does not prohibit them from processing the application, Statutory Instrument 062 of 2006 which introduced the requirement for Design and Access Statements, makes it mandatory to demonstrate the steps taken to appraise the context of the development, and how the design of the development takes that context into account in relation to its proposed use. As PPS1 clearly includes addressing crime risk as part of the creation of safe sustainable places, this will invariably form part of the context within which any development is set, and therefore crime prevention should be dealt with within the DAS.



Because LPA's validate Major Planning Applications, even though the applicant has not shown how they have addressed crime prevention as per paragraph 87 of CLG 01/06 and the CABE National Guidance, it has caused a problem where applicants now do not even think about crime prevention. Thus lack of information regarding Crime Prevention does not help the Local Planning Authority to then fully determine a planning application because they do not have all the information that should be available to them, especially when all Local Planning Authorities are bound by Section 17 of the Crime & Disorder Act 1998 (as amended by Schedule 9 of the Police and Justice Act 2006), which imposes an obligation on every police authority, local authority (which includes Planning Authorities) and other specified bodies to consider crime and disorder reduction in the exercise of all their duties. It states:

17(1) Without prejudice to any other obligation imposed on it, it shall be the duty of each authority to which this section applies to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that it reasonably can to prevent,

(a) crime and disorder in its area (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment); and
(b) the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area.


17(2) "This section applies to each of the following- a local authority; a joint authority; the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority; a fire and rescue authority constituted by a scheme under section 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 or a scheme to which section 4 of that Act applies; a metropolitan county fire authority; a police authority; a National Park authority; the Broads Authority."

A Local Authority is defined by section 270 of the Local Government Act 1972 as:
"a county council, a district council, a London borough council or a parish council, but in relation to Wales, means a county council, county borough or community council, or the Common Council of the City of London".

There were problems in the past when Local Planning Authorities had regard to Section 17 of the Crime & Disorder Act 19998 and had refused a major planning application because crime prevention has not been addressed. However in 2005 the Home Office wrote to the Planning Inspectorate 'reminding' them that Local Planning Authorities must have regard to Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, in exercising its functions as a planning authority, and have to take into consideration crime and disorder in its area.

As a result, the Planning Inspectorate issued PINS note 953 in June 2005, replacing PINS note 717, and have concluded that when Inspectors are dealing with an appeal.

Quoting from Pins 953 - "Where a LPA has referred to s17 as the basis for, or as one of the reasons for, reaching its decision, Inspectors should continue to make their decisions in accordance with s38 (6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 but they should take crime prevention into account as a material consideration (where this is relevant) and should show that they have dealt with the issue on the basis of the advice in PPS1: Delivering Sustainable Development and Safer Places: The Planning System and Crime Prevention."



I would also like to bring to your attention a recent appeal dismissal decision APP/D3830/A/07/2048498 decision date 7th December 2007 involving Mid-Sussex District Council. Reason 9 of the decision notice issued by the Inspector was: "I have to determine the appeal in light of all the material considerations, having regard to current planning policies and national advice. The appellant's design and access statement did not respond to advice in paragraph 87 of DCLG Circular 01/2006 Guidance on changes to the Development Control System that such statements should demonstrate how crime prevention measures have been considered in the design of the proposal."



In the CLG document, "The Validation of Planning Applications, guidance for local planning authorities", it says on page 13, under 'Local List', point 17: "In addition to the National list, local planning authorities are encouraged to consult on and adopt their own local lists. This should be drawn from the recommended national defined list included in this guidance (see page 27), which may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in national policy and legislation." However the word recommended is used and again on page 27 at the title at the top of the page which says; "Recommended national list of local requirements that may be adopted locally.
A precedent has already been set by Manchester City Council where a Crime Impact Statement (provided by the local Police), is required to be submitted by the applicants for Major Planning Applications for a planning application to be accepted by the LPA and validated. Therefore to have an additional document in the Local List, has been shown to be acceptable and I believe I have demonstrated the need for an additional item to the Local List as below.



Conclusion

Therefore because applicants are only very occasionally addressing crime prevention in their Design and Access Statement, and because LPA's are still validating planning applications and not refusing them on the grounds of inadequate information, I would ask that an additional document is added to the Local List

"If the applicant for a Major Planning Application does not address Crime prevention in their Design and Access Statement (DAS), then they must address it as a separate document in the local list"

If this is not acceptable could I ask that the council adopt the approach of Leeds Council who have now agreed they will not validate any outline or full planning major application that does not include reference to crime prevention or designing out crime within the Design and Access Statement. Thus LPA's will have fuller information to help them determine a major planning application.

The Parking section should say "including cycle storage and parking".
(because there are examples of inadequate provision in the past)

1APP Application Forms and Draft Validation Checklists

Thank you for your letter dated 19 February 2008 asking for comments on your local requirements list to accompany planning applications and I apologise for the delay in my response.

A number of the local district councils have requested comments from Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) on their local requirements list to accompany the 1APP Applications Forms. EWT has drawn up their own list for reference for all the local district councils to refer to:

If it is likely that a proposed development will have impacts on Wildlife and Biodiversity, information should be provided on existing biodiversity at the development site and the possible impacts, this will allow full consideration of the impacts.

1. Plans should be provided indicating any significant wildlife habitats or features (including - SSI, RAMSAR Site, Local Wildlife Site, waterways, water bodies, agricultural sites and the location of habitats of any protected species.)

2. Development Site Description (including habitats - vegetation, trees, hedgerows, woodlands, water features)

3. Biodiversity Survey and Report (including mitigation, restoration and enhancement measures)

4. Site ecological management plan

5. Supporting Ecological information (including Phase 1 Habitat Survey, Phase 2 Species Surveys, Environmental Impact Assessment)

Please could we have a copy of your validation checklists when they have been finalised. If you require further information please do not hesitate to contact us.

Local Validation Checklists

Thank you for your email of 19 February consulting The Theatres Trust on the local checklists for validation of planning applications.

The Theatres Trust is The National Advisory Public Body for Theatres. The Town & Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995, Article 10, Para (v) requires the Trust to be consulted on planning applications which include 'development involving any land on which there is a theatre.' It was established by The Theatres Trust Act 1976 'to promote the better protection of theatres'. This applies to all theatre buildings, old and new, in current use, in other uses, or disused. It also includes buildings or structures that have been converted to theatre, circus buildings and performing art centres. Our main objective is to safeguard theatre use, or the potential for such use, but we also provide expert advice on design, conservation, property and planning matters to theatre operators, local authorities and official bodies.

Our only comment is that as part of an Application for Planning Permission we would expect to see justification for change of use within the Planning Statement, e.g. from sui generis (theatre) to D2 (Assembly and Leisure) or from a place of worship (D1 church) to a theatre (sui generis). While the proposals may not require any physical change to the building they would almost certainly have an affect on the environment.

We look forward to being consulted on the Submission Core Strategy, Development Control Policies, Planning Obligations and any town centre Area Action Plans.