09 February 2012Applications received by the Council are registered and acknowledged by the Validation Team in Development Control. This is normally done within five working days of receipt.
Once an application is deemed valid it is recorded in the planning register that the Council is required to maintain and make available for inspection.
A weekly list of planning applications received is sent to the local press, District and parish Councillors, amenity societies and is published on this website.
Some applications are advertised in the local press and on site if they affect a listed building, a conservation area, depart from the Council's Local Plan, have a substantial impact on an area or if they affect a public right of way.
Notification letters are also sent to immediate neighbours and may be sent to others who are invited to comment on the proposal.
The statutory consultation period is 21 days. A decision cannot be issued until this period has elapsed.
Making a decision
Decisions can either be delegated - the Council's planning officer will make the decision or they will be put to the Development Control Committee together with a report with an officer's recommendation. An application will normally only go to the Development Control Committee if:
The Committee then vote in order to reach a decision and will either grant planning permission, with or without conditions or refuse it.
Reasons have to be given for the conditions or for refusal. These are included on the decision notice, which is sent to the applicant after a decision has been made.
A record of all decisions is maintained on the planning register and decisions on individual applications can be viewed here.
How long does it take?
The Council has eight or 13 weeks (depending on the type of application) to make a decision on a planning application. During this time the case officer will consult, in appropriate cases, with the local highway authority (Kent County Council in Sevenoaks District), town or parish councils, public services and other organisations.
The officer will investigate the site history and will consider whether or not the proposal is acceptable. Every application site is inspected.
Many applications are straightforward and uncontroversial. In such cases the Planning Officers generally determine these on the Council's behalf.
In other cases a recommendation on whether or not permission should be granted is made to the Development Control Committee.
Some complicated or large-scale applications take longer than eight or 13 weeks to decide. If there is no decision, the applicant has the right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
Development Control Committee
What happens at the meeting?
Each planning application to be dealt with is listed on the agenda. There is a short report summarising the background of each application, its history and the comments of neighbours and anyone else interested in the proposal.
Although it may seem that some applications are dealt with quickly at the meeting, a lot of background work goes on beforehand.
An officer checks whether the application drawings are accurate, and they would have visited the site and asked neighbours, local residents and amenity societies for their views before writing the report. Sometimes other authorities, such as the Environment Agency, or Kent County Council, would have been asked for their views.
At the meeting the committee members discuss each report in turn. An officer will introduce each item with a short presentation. The representations will be heard from people who have registered to speak, (follow this link for the leaflet explaining the procedure for ‘Speaking on Planning Applications (
PDF File 259KB file details)’ or, alternatively a paper copy is available from Planning Reception at Sevenoaks Council Offices) and the Parish/Town Council and local Members may also address the committee. Following this, questions may be asked to the technical and legal officers for advice if necessary. A debate will then follow before a vote is taken.
An application for planning permission may be granted. This may be subject to certain conditions to make sure that, for example, an extension is built of the same type of bricks as the original house.
Or it may be refused. In this case, the reasons for refusal will be given. Alternatively, it may be deferred. This sometimes happens if Members want more information about a proposal (or if they want to have a site inspection themselves). In this case the application will usually be decided at the next meeting of the Development Control Committee.
Occasionally, an application is withdrawn from the meeting. This is usually announced at the beginning of the evening.
Should an item contain information which is confidential, in accordance with the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules, it may be necessary for the Development Control Committee to pass a resolution requiring members of the public and the press to leave so that the Committee may discuss the confidential information.
Site inspections
If Members want to look further at an element of a proposal, particularly if it is controversial, the Development Control Committee may defer a decision for a site inspection.
The site inspection will be attended by Members and planning officers. The inspection gives Members an opportunity to view relevant features on site. This will then inform the debate at the following Development Control Committee Meeting.
Follow this link to view the members of Development Control Committee. There may be other Members at the meeting. They may be there because they are interested in one of the items on the agenda.
Members may also request that a site inspection takes place before the Development Control Committee meeting. The process that is followed on the site is the same as when an application is deferred for an inspection. The inspection will usually take place on the day of the Committee meeting.
Other people at the meeting
The Council's technical and legal officers also attend to give the Members advice.
As a member of the public you are welcome to observe the meeting, but you may not contribute to the discussion unless (where appropriate) you have registered to speak with the Democratic Services Team beforehand.
Development Control Committee agendas are always available at the Council Offices five working days before the meeting and on the Council’s website. Spare copies are available at the Committee venue before the meeting.
For more information please contact the Planning Team.
