Nocton Village Hall - planning decision

Not long now

I refer to my last blog on this matter dated 5th Mar 2018.

I have extracted a couple of phrases from Simons' further submission dated 1st Mar 2018:

"If, through design development (internally) we can mitigate the need of the ramp, then we would respectively request a minor alteration to the determined application to remove/revise it."

"... limited below ground investigation has taken place. We've made many adjustments to the footprint of the proposed build to reduce the concerns over the RPA (root protection area) and will seek collaboratively with the tree officer, post determination to reduce the risk damage to the trees. We'd respectively ask this is placed under a 'condition' of planning approval until further funding can be released to allow investigations/surveys and a detailed design to commence."

With the planning application having been withdrawn previously, Simons are quite rightly endeavouring to avoid this happening a second time. The comments are a request for any outstanding issues to be dealt with after determination of the application, which of course is being anticipated as one of approval rather than refusal.

Determination deadline

The original deadline for this planning application (18/0073/FUL) was Fri 9th Mar 2018, but in my experience these dates are not very reliable. With the extra information being submitted by Simons, this has involved a slight delay to allow time for the Tree Officer to comment further. The Case Officer required these comments by 19 Mar 2018 (today).

You may like to be aware that many planning applications are decided solely by a senior planning officer, rather than by a planning committee. However, in more complex or contentious cases, it is appropriate for applications to be considered by committee. In which case, the planning officer will present a recommended decision to a group of elected councillors, who will then determine the matter.

With the next Planning Sub-Committee meeting (Lafford) not scheduled until 3 Apr 2018, I have a suspicion this application is likely to be dealt with by Officer's Decision, rather than being 'called in' and considered by Planning Committee.

If correct in this assumption, I would expect the Officer's Decision to be published online within the next week or so.