Minerals, waste and county council development planning decisions are made in one of three ways:
The full council can delegate powers to the Head of Planning Service. This allows the latter to exercise the council’s functions as a Local Planning Authority, except:
Our Development and Regulation Committee considers planning applications that cannot be decided under delegated authority.
The committee meets on the fourth Friday of each month and is open to the press and public. It observes its own Development and Regulation protocol and another public speaking protocol.
See our Calendar of Meetings for details of committee meetings and minutes. Agendas are published online at least five working days before the committee date.
In some circumstances, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government can ‘call in’ a planning application for his own determination. This power is given under Section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. It can be exercised at any time up to the grant of planning permission.
Some planning applications must also be sent to the National Planning Casework Unit for review. See the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2024 for further details.
View the government’s Determining a Planning application section for guidance. This includes how long a decision can take.
Planning conditions can:
Planning conditions should be fair, reasonable and used to tackle specific problems. They should not be used generally or to impose unnecessary controls.
Six criteria exist to ensure their proper use. Conditions should be: