Full News Report

10th November 2023

Councillors attempt to unravel development process

MORVAL Parish Council has been trying to help members of the public find a simpler way through the local development minefield – which one resident recently called baffling at times – by explaining how the whole Cornwall County Council planning system works.

It follows concerns expressed during the consultation period for the recent Little Chimneys planning application in Widegates village that some proposals are not well advertised, and that members of the public do not always have sufficient time to express an opinion.

All planning applications to develop land in the parish of Morval, or to make alterations and extensions to properties, must be made to Cornwall County Council, which then notifies the parish clerk of the proposals.

The applications also appear on the Cornwall Council planning website https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning-applications/online-planning-register/ and members of the public can make their views known there.

Since April this year, no e-mail or postal comments have been permitted by the county planners so everything now has to go through the planning website portal.

Morval Parish Council chairman Andy Jackson has made transparency one of the cornerstones of his term in office and he says that he is determined to see that every planning application notified to the parish council is also brought to the public’s attention via the council’s own website and, hopefully, also on the Morval and Widegates Community Support Group Facebook page.

In an ideal world these applications would also be mentioned in the parish magazine, Outlook, but quite often plans are lodged and determined within such tight time schedules that publicising details in the monthly publication would be neither practical nor useful, since once the date for public consultation closes (a date always advertised on the county planning website) no further observations can be considered.

Cllr Clive Pearn has often been vocal about the apparent haste of the county’s planning timescales. He noted that in the recent case of the Little Chimneys application, the county had told the parish clerk about the officers’ intention to approve the plan on September 29 but had given the parish council only five working days to respond.

Most parish councils in Cornwall only meet once a month and Cllr Pearn called the time schedule ‘disgraceful’.

Cllr Ben Pengelly, the parish’s lead on planning issues, said he had noticed that people were not always commenting on applications and he urged them to do so.

The council agreed it would be most useful if parishioners voiced their opinions, and members reminded residents that the fact they did not live close by a planning application site, did not stop them expressing a view for the wider benefit of the parish’s future well-being and development; for example, parishioners might point out that an application was contrary to the Morval Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP), or they might want to support a certain proposal.

The NDP policy document, costing in the region of £8,000 overall, was drawn up by a dedicated local committee, working on feedback from residents. 

It was then prepared by professionals and worded correctly to become a workable document for planning purposes, with the aim of giving the parish a louder voice in planning matters.

It was formally adopted by Cornwall Council at the end of last year, following a referendum of parishioners who voted in favour, and it is now used when considering all planning applications in the parish.

Cornwall Council’s Planning department says that once a planning application has been registered, letters are sent to ‘immediate’ neighbours (defined as someone whose property adjoins the proposed site, but not someone who lives ‘up the road’ or opposite the site).  

These letters notify the neighbour of the proposed planning works and tell them how to provide comments. 

People have 21 days to comment on planning applications and, by law, a decision on the plan cannot be made until that consultation period has passed.

A site notice may also be erected on, or near, the site and, if required under special planning guidelines (say, listed buildings or some conservation areas), a notice could be published in the local newspaper.

There is also a process whereby residents can register to be told of any planning application that is lodged in their area.

Coincidentally, Mike Willmott, who was chairman of the steering committee that drew up the Morval NDP, has also told parish councillors that it may be possible to update the plan’s policies from time to time, and that there should be un-spent money from the original consultation and preparation process to fund any changes.

Items such as changed settlement boundaries, affordable housing requirements and even things like amending a word or phrase here or there to add particular emphasis to the spirit of the NDP guidelines could be possible.

As a result of that information the council’s clerk, Sam Pengelly, together with Cllrs Ben Pengelly and John Kitson, is looking into the process and practicalities of making any changes.

The parish council also remains willing to further debate planning procedures with members on the public should the need arise.