The Local Planning Authorities have a statutory duty to consult the Parish Council about planning applications that are for places in the building, and a similar duty applies for
- applications requiring listed building consent,
- road alterations such as altering speed limits and installing traffic calming measures,
- notices relating to tree works affecting trees subject to a preservation order, or trees over a certain size (measured by trunk diameter, not height) within the conservation area.
The Parish Council has a right (but not a duty) to respond, but does not have the power of approval; it can only recommend that the higher authority approves or rejects the application. The Parish Council can also comment on applications affecting nearby parishes, but there is no statutory duty for any body to inform us of such, and any response we make would have lesser weight than that of the directly affected Parish Council.
Making your views known
Parishioners and other interested parties, whether based in the Parish or not, are also entitled to comment on applications. There are a number of ways of doing this:
Attend a Parish Council Meeting
Anyone can attend our meetings, and a copy of the agenda is posted on our website a few days before the meeting, as well on the noticeboard outside the Reading Room. The notice will list the applications we will be considering. There will be an opportunity to speak during the Open Forum part of the meeting, but remember that only the Parish Councillors are entitled to take an active part during the rest of the meeting.
On the whole, though, the best way to find out details of an application, and make your views known, is to….
Comment via the Planning Portal
HDC, our Local Planning Authority (LPA), maintains a Planning Portal on their website, where you can look up ongoing and completed applications, view their status, and download any of the documents pertaining to those applications. There will also be links to other applications for the same parcel of land. You can look up applications by giving a partial address, or you can bring up a map, zoom and scroll to the relevant area, and clink on the displayed links (which are only shown when you have zoomed in quite far). The easiest way, though, it to search by giving the application reference number, if known. When the Parish Clerk publishes the agenda, it will include the reference numbers of the applications being discussed, and in the case of the online notice the reference number will normally be a link to the relevant page on the HDC Planning Portal. (For applications involving the school or other facilities owned by the County Council, the link will be to the CC website.)
Once you have found the application online, one of the options available is to view the comments other people have made about the application, though the names, contact details and signatures of individuals will be redacted for privacy reasons. You can also (create an account and) log in, to leave your own comment; note that your name and content details will be redacted, but the comments you make may make it obvious where you live! There can be a lag of a few days between documents and comments being received by the LPA and them appearing on the portal. Because of this lag, it is helpful if you were to send the Parish Council a copy of your comment (see our contact page for details on how to get in touch), so councillors have a chance to consider it before our meeting; we will keep your personal details confidential.
Other means of commenting
As well as adding comments online, you can also write to the Planning Authority, or send them an email; you can find contact details for the Planning Development Control dept of HDC here. However you comment, we urge you to do this in plenty of time to meet the posted deadline, and (as mentioned above) it may take time for your (redacted) comment to appear on the website. It would also aid us in deciding whether to recommend disapproval or approval of these applications if you were to send us a copy of your comments before our meeting. Details on how to reach us are on our contact page; information will kept in confidence.
Remember, it is not just residents of Great Gransden who can comment on applications, but any interested parties – so that includes residents of Little Gransden, and those who live or work in any neighbouring village. Also, you can always contact the district or county councillor, or your MP!
Planning application or Listed Building Consent – what’s the difference?
When considering a planning application, the planning authority considers a variety of matters, including whether the proposed changes will be in line with the planning guidelines, whether it is against the Neighbourhood Plan, whether it affects the conservation area or the setting of any listed buildings, and whether it would put any strain on the infrastructure. If the application is for a listed building, though, there is an additional hurdle, an application for Listed Building Consent.
Applications for Listed Building Consent are considered on the way the proposed alterations and/or change of use affect the structure or character of the listed building, especially in the context of the reasons for its listing.
You can see a list of all the listed buildings in Great Gransden here, along with a map showing their locations; if you click on a link, you will be taken to a page about that particular ‘building’, complete with a link to a link to the official listing on the English Heritage website. Note that a Listed Building need not be a whole dwelling, say; as well as our church, there is a separate listing for one of the gravestones! There are also 2 milestones listed, and some walls inside the grounds of Rippington Manor are listed, along with the Manor itself.)