How to respond to a planning application in your area….

Is there a planning application in West Hunsbury that you are interesting in commenting about?

Perhaps your neighbour is hoping to build an extension or there are some new houses planned for your area and you would like to register your opinion… How would you do that? 

For West Hunsbury there are two councils, the first one is the Parish Council, we are the first tier of local government, we look at planning applications in our area as part of our monthly meetings, or occasionally if the application is of particular importance we will hold a separate meeting, but we are not the planning authority.  We cannot grant or refuse planning permission. The parish council is merely a ‘Consultee’, we are asked for our opinion in the same way the Environment Agency is, or the Highways Authority and the Police for example.  We meet and discuss an application and we send our response to our principle council, West Northants Council ( WNC).

WNC are the planning authority for our area, they have planning officers and a planning committee and they consider all applications together with all responses received and it is they who can grant permission or refuse an application.

When a resident wishes to comment on a planning application the comments or observations must be sent directly to West Northants Council.   There is no other way for your comments to be submitted and taken into consideration.  By all means copy in the parish council but please make sure you send them directly to the principle planning authority.

So how do you do that?

You can do this in two ways, either you can send an email quoting the planning application reference number to planning@westnorthants.gov.uk  or you can visit the planning portal on this link – Planning applications and enforcement | West Northamptonshire Council

Click on the link that says ‘View or Comment on a planning application’,  key in the reference number and follow the instructions to send in your response.

If you do not do this your response will not be considered, the parish council cannot send in your responses for you.

There are many guides to responding to planning applications online including information on what to comment on and what not to, how to understand what material considerations are and what sort of developments need planning permission and what doesnt.

I hope this information is of assistance, there are more details on the West Northants Council planning website.