Appendix 2

Table: Consultees Response to the Statement of Community Involvement with Council Responses

Many of the comments received from Hatfield Against Incineration, referred to the planning application for New Barnfield and so did not relate to the Statement of Community Involvement or the consultation. The SCI sets out the mechanisms by which people are given the opportunity to make their views known, whether positive or negative. Views expressed regarding the minerals and waste planning documents are taken into account when re-drafting the document. This can often take the form of amendments to the document were it is felt that these would improve the plan.

Views expressed at the planning application stage are taken into account when writing the necessary report for development control committee and when reaching a recommendation. These views often help to shape planning conditions that are applied to proposals.

The county council has to balance the need to produce such plans and determine such applications with the views expressed.

Planning applications are judged on their merits and the views of representatives taken into account when assessing the application.

ID No. / Consultee / Refers to / Consultees Comment / County Council Response
SCI 1 / Thundridge Parish Council / 4.13; Stakeholders; Appendix 1 / As a local Parish Councillor I find it difficult to accept that we are only referred to in this document as a possible provider of background information (4.13).
Much time and attention seems to be given to engaging Hard to Reach Groups but not Parish Councils!
We are not mentioned as Stakeholders. In Appendix 1 we are not referred to as bodies that you will consult with or may consult with!
Perhaps these are oversights. Perhaps this could be rectified? / Paragraph 4.13 states that district/borough town and parish councils form a vital part in document production and are consulted at most stages.
Appendix 1 is a list of bodies that the council must consult with in addition to district/borough, town and parish councils. An additional paragraph has been added to clarify this.
SCI 2 / St. Albans & District Friends of the Earth / Whole Document / The document seems generally sound, but I would like to make 2 comments
- I often find it hard to involve the group I represent in public consultations because the consultation period is too short. Many organisations meet monthly so I suggest 6 weeks as a minimum consultation period
- In many instances, my members have been keen to respond to public consultations but have been deterred by very long, complicated or restrictive on line consultation documents/questionnaires. Therefore I suggest that consultation documents are divided down into sections with headings that indicate their content (so that a consultee can easily find the section that is of concern/interest to them), that the mechanism for providing comments is easy to use, and that any questionnaire is flexible enough to allow a full range of comment. / Formal (statutory) consultations are normally held over a period of six weeks. The most recent consultation on the SCI was an informal (non-statutory) consultation over four weeks.
The council appreciate that community groups often meet on a monthly basis, and although the consultation periodsare stated at a set time period, requests for extension will always be considered. An additional sentence will be added to explain this.
In reference to the online consultation portal, larger documents are normally divided into sections with headings to enable the consultee to respond to individual areas of the document. However, for this SCI consultation the document was not divided as it was a far smaller document than normal.
SCI 3 / Stanstead Abbotts Parish Council / Whole Document / Stanstead Abbotts Planning Committee wish to make the following points about the Statement of Community Involvement Consultation:
1. We do not feel confident that the county planners and the district/borough planners always work as well together as they could do to solve issues before time and money are wasted on non-viable plans from county. / The county council works with all district/borough councils on a continuous basis. The two tiers of local government formally consult each other on plan production and planning applications. In addition to formal consultation mechanisms, there are many officer and member working groups which continue to meet and contribute to cooperative working.
SCI 4 / Stanstead Abbotts Parish Council / Whole Document / 2. We are not happy about county allowing developers to provide so much of the information and consulting work as it leads to confusion about what has already been approved by county and what issues are still up for debate. It is unclear what checks Hertfordshire makes as to how well the presentations are delivered and how accessible the information is when it has been left by companies such as Veolia to inform the public. / As stated in the SCI, there are minimal legal requirements for consultation and publicity for planning applications and the county council has an adopted code of practice for publicity in relation to planning applications.
Pre-application engagement undertaken by prospective developers is encouraged as an addition to the formal requirements of the council.
The county council remainsimpartial and presents a balanced report based on all the information provided.
SCI 5 / Stanstead Abbotts Parish Council / Whole Document / 3. We feel that CPRE should be automatic consultees / The Campaign to Protect Rural England are consulted at each stage of plan production.
SCI 6 / South Bucks District Council / Whole Document / Many thanks for consulting us on the above document. I can advise that South Bucks raise no objections to the proposed SCI. / This comment has been noted and no change is required.
SCI 7 / Newnham & Caldecote Parish Council / Whole Document / Thank you for this update and our parish council has no further comment on these changes / This comment has been noted and no change is required.
SCI 8 / Woolmer Green Parish Council / Whole Document / Woolmer Green Parish Council is happy with your revised statement of community involvement. / This comment has been noted and no change is required.
SCI 9 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Paragraph 3.10 / 3.10 - "taking into account the views of interested parties" – how will the views of interested parties be taken into account? / The views of interested parities are considered throughout the process, the way or extent the views are taken into account is dependent on the application or document at the time of consultation.
Views expressed regarding the minerals and waste planning documents are taken into account when re-drafting the document. This can often take the form of amendments to the document were it is felt that these would improve the plan.
Views expressed at the planning application stage are taken into account when writing the necessary report for development control committee and when reaching a recommendation. These views often help to shape planning conditions that are applied to proposals.
SCI 10 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Paragraph 3.11 / 3.11 - "proportionate to resources available", "pragmatic approach" - who decides what these are? / Plan production, including public engagement, takes place within the context of the legal requirements of the development plan Regulations and the approved county council budget for plan preparation. The best means of consultation or engagement are assessed and presented to the appropriate Member Panel prior to implementation, and this is set out in the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). Any requests for additional levels of consultation over and above the Statement of Community Involvement, will in the first instance be considered by officers, or if the request raises issues of conformity with the SCI or major budgetary issues, it would then be referred to Members.
SCI 11 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Paragraph 4.14 / 4.14 'involvement' in selection of sites ensuring existing quality of life for local communities enhanced and protected as much as possible... ensuring quality of natural environment protected and enhanced as much as possible - what is "as much as possible"? / This section of the SCI is highlighting issues which stakeholders often raise. It gives some examples and is not given as an exhaustive list.
Planning aims to balance the need for development with the protection of the environment, including the quality of life for local communities.
SCI 12 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Paragraph 4.15 / 4.15 These points are very superficial. How will outcomes from community engagement be dealt with when the community is clearly opposed to elements of or entire plans? / The SCI sets out the mechanisms by which people are given the opportunity to make their views known, whetherpositive or negative.Views expressed regarding the minerals and waste planning documents are taken into account when re-drafting the document. This can often take the form of amendments to the document were it is felt that these would improve the plan.
Views expressed at the planning application stage are taken into account when writing the necessary report for development control committee and when reaching a recommendation. These views often help to shape planning conditions that are applied to proposals.
The county council has to balance the need to produce such plans and determine such applications with the views expressed.
SCI 13 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Chapter 5 / 5.0Have public meetings been considered? These are often appropriate ways of involving communities. / Public meetings have been considered in the past, however have not proved successful and the council has found that drop-in sessions are a more appropriate method.
SCI 14 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Paragraph 5.4 / 5.4 … “including documentation which can be downloaded” – documents need to be in a format and of a size that is easily downloaded. / The county council produces its planning documents in a number of formats; CD, hard copy, online etc.
When documents are published online, either on the internet or on the consultation portal, they are split into appropriate sizes to aid viewing and downloading.
SCI 15 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Paragraph 5.9 / 5.9 Council meetings "may not be open to public speaking in some circumstances" – what circumstances? / This paragraph has been amended to explain the relevant procedure. The majority of meetings (Panel, Cabinet and County Council) are open to the public to attend.
Further information on ‘asking questions and presenting petitions at council meetings can be found at:
SCI 16 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Paragraph 6.12 / 6.12 Who decides whether an application is “non-controversial” and under what circumstances?
6.12 “within guidelines” – what are these guidelines and where can details of them be found? / An application is referred to as ‘non controversial’ under Hertfordshire Planning code of practice and decided under delegated powers when an application for determination has no new issues being raised or no objections to the application.
Within guideline refers to the Planning code of Practice and the Development Management Procedures manual. A footnote has been added into the document to explain these.
SCI 17 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Appendix 1 / Were the bodies listed in Appendix 1 advised of this consultation? / Appendix 1 lists a number of bodies that county council must or may consult in line with the appropriate regulations. It is not an exhaustive list of organisations that the county council may consult. Those consulted in addition to the regulations will be dependant on the nature and subject of the document or proposal. The majority of bodies listed in Appendix 1 under the regulations and the Duty to Cooperate have been consulted on this document. It was not considered necessary to consult the Marine Management Organisation on this occasion, but will be on future documents.
The Local Nature Partnership did not exist at the time of publication, but in line with the regulations enacted in 12 November 2012 The Marine Management Organisation and Local Nature Partnership will be consulted on all future policy documents.
SCI 18 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Whole Document / 1. The term sustainable is used throughout. What is the definition of this term? / A definition of sustainable development has been added to the SCI.
SCI 19 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Whole Document / 2. Where communities do become involved in preparation of the Minerals and Waste Development Plan Documents and the consideration of planning applications for which Hertfordshire County Council is the planning authority and are willing to work with the Council but continuously have their views rejected, not only will this have the effect of alienating those communities it will also undermine the authenticity of the community involvement process. How are you going to prevent this? / Views expressed regarding the minerals and waste planning documents are taken into account when re-drafting the document. This can often take the form of amendments to the document were it is felt that these would improve the plan.
Views expressed at the planning application stage are taken into account when writing the necessary report for development control committee and when reaching a recommendation. These views often help to shape planning conditions that are applied to proposals.
The county council has to balance the need to produce such plans and determine such applications with the views expressed.
SCI 20 / Welwyn Hatfield Friends of the Earth / Whole Document / 3. Consideration should be given to the amount of time given to respond to a consultation. Many groups may only meet once a month and therefore little time is available for discussion if a consultation is only running for 4 weeks. / Formal (statutory) consultations are normally held over a period of six weeks. The most recent consultation on the SCI was an informal (non-statutory) consultation over four weeks.
The council appreciate that community groups often meet on a monthly basis and although the consultation periods are stated at a set time period, requests for extension will always be considered. An additional sentence has been added to explain this.
SCI 21 / Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council / Whole Document / I refer to the consultation on your proposed revisions to your Statement of Community Involvement dated September 2012. Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council wishes to make the following comments.
To help communicate the complexity of the planning system more simply it would be helpful to include a diagram of the different Minerals and Waste documents and/or the stages of the process. This would also break up the text, making the document more accessible and easier to read. / A diagram has been added to the document to illustrate the planning system and how all the documents fit together.
SCI 22 / Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council / Whole Document / Reference is made to the importance of engaging with specific hard to reach groups and details are given as to how this will be done. However, will this be monitored in any way, to assess progress? Indeed will the council monitor the success of consultation more generally i.e. in terms of the level of participation etc? / Paragraphs 7.3 – 7.6 of the SCI set out the monitoring that is carried out throughout the process of document production.
The number of documents sent out and the responses received are presented to Panel. Monitoring forms are sent out with each consultation and a consultation statement together with a statement of main issues produced.
SCI 23 / Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council / Appendix 1 / Appendix 1 lists the bodies that the County Council must consult as set out in the 2012 Regulations. However, the list does not fully address the requirements to consult with ‘relevant authorities’ as set out in Section 2 (h) of the Regulations. Firstly, appendix 1 only refers to adjoining authorities, not authorities within and adjoining Hertfordshire. Secondly, on this basis, parish councils should also be mentioned alongside district and borough councils. Although I do note these are referred to elsewhere in the document. Thirdly, there is no mention of the local police body, which is also a relevant authority. / The bullet points within the list have been amended to fully reflect the need to consult relevant authorities, any part of whose area is in or adjoins the local planning authority’s
Area. A paragraph has also been added before Appendix 1 to fully explain the organisations that must, should and may be consulted.
SCI 24 / Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council / Appendix 2 / Appendix 2- The first table (Minerals and waste planning documents) should include reference to the adoption phase (similar to the column included in the table for supplementary planning documents) because the 2012 Regulations set out publication requirements once a plan has been adopted. / The table has been amended to fully reflect the requirements.
SCI 25 / Chiltern District Council / Whole Document / Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your Council’s draft Statement of Community Involvement.