The District Council has sent out a number of ‘neighbour’ consultation letters on the North of London Road planning application. The official expiry date for replying is September 24th. But…..
You can still respond after that date!
If the council receives your response before the council officers finish their report it will be included in their report. But don’t expect your text to be quoted word for word. To keep things manageable when there are big responses, officers will write something like : “There have been x letters of objection, mainly on the reasons of a, b and c; and y letters of support “and then include a page or two of key quotes from some of those letters.
If they get your response after they have written their report it will be included in an ‘addendum’ produced the day before the planning meeting. The meeting could be in November or December…
You may wonder what is the point of responding (or coming to the meeting). Well, occasionally responses include information that councillors didn’t know about. But more often they simply add a bit of weight to a councillors arguments. If a councillor is trying get an extra condition included, or get an application altered, or get something included, or indeed get an application passed or refused, it’s hard to argue that this is a significant matter for the community if hardly anybody’s written in, or the public gallery is empty.
I would encourage everyone to get them in both early and in great numbers ( get all your family to object individually ) and I would like to think a big turnout at the meeting ( when announced ) – in Billericay they swamped the meeting and the plan was squashed. Time for the public to stand up and be counted loud and clear…..
I would also urge everyone to write/email to their RDC councillor asking them to firstly note your objection and to urge them to do so themselves when the time comes