The minimum standards for community involvement in the preparation of LDD s are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004 and those for planning applications are set out in Article 8 of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995 (See Appendices 4 and 5). Havant Borough Council currently meet these minimum standards and in many circumstances exceed them. The SCI aims to set out what we will continue to do in excess of these minimum standards.

 

Community involvement needs to be present at all stages in the preparation of LDD s. Effective community involvement needs to provide opportunities for information, participation, consultation and feedback. With regard to significant planning applications, in particular, involvement needs to focus on the three stages of pre-application, application and post-application.

 

All planning information should be made accessible to the whole community. The Council will endeavour to write all documents in plain English and avoid the use of jargon. The Council’s website will be kept up to date with information on documents and planning applications. Copies of all LDF documents will be available on the Council’s website and at the Civic Offices during office hours for members of the public to view. Planning applications are also available to view at the Civic Offices, and for applications west of the A3(M), at the Service Point in Waterlooville. Planning applications are now also available to view on the Council’s website.

 

Further information is available by contacting the Planning Policy and Urban Design Team by email, telephone or visiting the Civic Offices. The Council website is also a good source of wider planning information on topics such as Conservation Areas and Tree Preservation Orders. General planning advice, Committee agendas and minutes, and other background documents and publications can also be accessed through the website.

 

Consultations carried out by the Council often fail to reach particular groups within the community. In Havant Borough there are a number of minority groups which the Council considers are not easily represented and are therefore ‘hard to reach’, these include:

 

A recent Audit Commission inspection concluded that Havant Borough Council has good customer focus but highlighted that we do not engage local residents from black and ethnic minority groups. The Council wants to ensure that all sections of the community are involved in decisions which affect them and therefore particular effort will be made to use methods which will enable us to engage with these hard to reach groups.

 

Where possible consultation will be co-ordinated through the Council’s consultation officer to ensure co-ordination with other consultations taking place across the Council. The Council is currently setting up a consultation working group which will involve representatives from different groups within the Council and will serve to raise awareness of the what the Council is doing and aid the co-ordination of consultations and findings.

 

 

2.2 If involvement is to be effective it is considered that the overall target groups are:

 

2.3 A comprehensive list of all the groups is included in Appendix 5. However, this is not a fixed list. Further groups will be added as they are identified and other groups may no longer wish to be involved and will therefore be removed from the list on request.

 

 

2.4 The timetable for production of documents and relevant stages of involvement are set out in the Local Development Scheme ( LDS ) (Appendix 2), this will be reviewed annually.

 

2.5 Table 1 sets out the range of methods which the Council will make use of to involve the community in the planning process. The methods used for each document and application will be tailored according to the type of document being produced and the types of community groups to be involved.

 

Method	Description	Information, consultation, participation or feedback
Serving You	Council’s quarterly magazine. Delivered to every household in the Borough.	Information on LDF , forthcoming consultations and major planning applications. Feedback on previous consultations
Press Releases/ Local Media	Newspapers/Radio/TV Ensure that local press are well informed about the production of LDF documents, major planning applications and the details of all opportunities for public involvement through the issue of press releases. Send press releases to local magazine and newsletter editors.	Information on LDF , LDD s, planning applications and opportunities to comment. Feedback on previous consultations.
Leaflets	Produce readable and accessible summaries of LDF documents, highlighting opportunities to get involved where considered appropriate. Publish on the website, and distribute in public buildings across the Borough. Continue to produce and keep up-to-date the planning advice notes which are available on the website and in the Civic Offices.	Information on LDF and opportunities to get involved. General planning information and advice.
Council website	Planning dedicated pages on the Council’s website providing information, access to documents and opportunities to comment on documents and applications.   Information on applications is available and it is possible to view and track applications on the website.	Information - up to date information about LDF documents and planning applications. Consultation – Make consultation documents available and make use of on line questionnaires and comment forms. Feedback on previous consultations and applications.
Written consultation	Statutory consultees, organisations, residents associations and other community groups will be contacted at each consultation stage of production of DPD s. Previous respondents will also be contacted at subsequent stages. Neighbouring properties are written to informing them of an application.	Information on LDF and consultations. Consultation – where appropriate copies of draft documents or questionnaires will be issued. Feedback on previous consultations. Written consultation on applications and feedback on decisions.
Email	Where respondents have requested contact via email, direct consultations will be communicated to them in this way. In addition the ability to circulate documents electronically will be investigated. Comments on applications can be made via email.	Information on LDF and consultations. Consultation – where appropriate copies of draft documents or questionnaires will be issued. Feedback on previous consultations. Opportunity to respond to consultation on applications via email.
Citizen’s Panel	The Council has set up a citizen’s panel called Community Pulse. The panel consists of 1,500 residents selected by sending out approximately 8,800 letters to a random selection of residents from the electoral roll. The Council endeavour to include a wide range of residents who have the opportunity to input into Council decision making in a variety of ways and are contacted up to 4 times a year, with questionnaires on various subjects covering a range of Council services.	Consultation – early information from Panel at issues stage of LDD s and on major development proposals.
Havant Community Partnership	Havant’s Local Strategic Partnership - membership includes a range of key local public organisations such as the Police, the Council and the Health Service, together with the business community and the voluntary and community sector. These are a key group to involve in preparing the LDF , the HCP will be used as a forum for involving and consulting these key partners.	Information on LDF . Consultation – represent the key stakeholders to be consulted in the development of LDF documents. Participation – key stakeholders to invite to forums/discussions.
Community Boards	The Community Boards have been set up to represent local opinions and aspirations, wants and needs. They do this through their members as representatives of the local population and through inviting the general public to their meetings. Each board sends a representative to the HCP . For example: used as a method in the Liveability project.	Information on LDF , significant planning applications and consultation opportunities. Participation – opportunities to discuss projects and development proposals and feedback ideas. Feedback and consultation on options and preferred options and applications.
Exhibitions/ Displays	These will be produced at key stages in the production of documents and will be provided at the Civic Offices, libraries, community centres, shopping centres and other public buildings across the Borough (e.g. Job centres, post office, benefits office) as appropriate. They could also be produced for significant applications where considered appropriate. Use of the Council’s exhibition/display trailer.	Information on LDF , significant planning applications and consultation opportunities. Participation where displays are manned by Council officers or applicants.
Enquiry by Design Events	Session allowing small groups of professionals and non-professionals to work together developing planning and design ideas. For example: used as part of Leigh Park Creating Quality Places project. This method could also be used for significant development proposals.	Participation – particularly for specific area based projects/development proposals.
Planning/ Community Workshops	Main stakeholders and wider community – getting key parties to work together to explore options for an area or particular site. Could also include techniques such as ‘Planning for Real’ for significant development proposals.	Participation– particularly for specific area based projects/development proposals.
Presentations to Public Meetings/ Youth Council Meetings and Residents’ Associations:	Way of raising awareness of system and opportunities to comment. Hold more in-depth discussions/seminars/workshops with opportunities for question and answer sessions with officers and experts. Presentations could be given on particular documents or specific development proposals. Meetings with statutory consultees where appropriate.	Information on LDF , applications/proposals and consultation opportunities. Participation – opportunities to discuss projects and proposals and feedback ideas. Feedback and consultation on options and preferred options and applications.
Community plans (Village Design Statements ( VDS ), Village Appraisals, Town Maps)	Produced by communities to identify local character and set out design guidance to help guide new development. Village Design Statements will be used as a material consideration for Development Control purposes. The weight which will be given to it will depend on the particular issues of each case.	Consultation and participation - opportunity for input into producing the design statement.