Comments can be made whilst viewing the application online. We allow 21 days for comment and a decision will not be made during this time. After this date we still accept comments but there is a risk that a decision may made before they can be considered.

Your name and address and comments will be displayed on our website. Comments cannot be anonymous, confidential or verbal. Any signatures, personal email addresses and personal contact numbers will be removed before publication and held on our planning database for use by our staff.  Any medical information submitted will be redacted unless there is exceptionally a legitimate reason for this special category of data to be processed.

Due to the volumes received we are unable to respond to any comments, but they will be addressed within the officer’s report.  

Only planning related matters can be considered and any comments regarding disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or gender reassignment or that are defamatory, prejudiced or otherwise likely to cause offence to the subject of the comments or any other reader will be removed. Any comments that are considered to constitute hate incidents or hate crimes may be passed to the police.

Examples of planning related comments include:-

• Overlooking/loss of privacy
• Design/effect on appearance of area
• Access, parking, traffic, road safety
• Trees/Biodiversity/Landscape/Heritage
• Noise/disturbance
• Local or Government Policy/Economic benefits
• Flooding issues

Comments which should not be made and cannot be considered include:-

• Loss of property value/loss of view
• Boundary/land ownership/neighbour disputes
• Impact on private drainage systems
• Inappropriate or personal comments
• Doubts as to integrity of applicant
• Breach of covenant
• Principle of development when outline consent exists

Any petitions will be displayed on the website without the list of names/addresses/signatures. Only the name and address of the lead person/organiser will be recorded and only the lead person/organiser will be contacted with updates. The same applies to pre-filled letters where the only one copy of the letter will be placed on our website under the heading of Bulk Letters showing the number of copies received.

If the application is refused and the applicant submits an appeal your comments, together with your name and address, will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate and to the appellant. Householder applications use a fast track appeal process and there will be no further opportunity to comment on these types of application at appeal stage. There is no third party right of appeal.

We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected by adhering to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Any personal information provided will be used by us solely for the purpose of determining the planning proposal on which you are commenting and contacting you regarding this. Your personal data will be processed in accordance with our full privacy policy