Letter: GBC Planning Notifications are Not ‘Within the Spirit of the Law’

Published on: 31 May, 2023
Updated on: 1 Jun, 2023

From: Bernard Quoroll

former independent person at GBC

In response to Letter: Are the Standards Relating to Planning Application Notifications Fit For Purpose?

In addition to the point raised by Martin Elliot, Guildford Borough Council choses to interpret the neighbour notification regulations restrictively and not in my view within the spirit of the rules.

It also regularly fails to take account of the requirement to ignore public holidays when calculating the 21-day period allowed for responses.

Thoughtfully written comments and objections are then summarised often to a single word, or even omitted in evaluations, which makes it easier to ignore them.

On one occasion I and my neighbours had to commission our own professional evaluation and circulate it directly to individual members of the planning committee, because we thought we were being ignored.

The council’s longstanding problems in processing planning applications make it unlikely that it will re-evaluate its consultation procedures any time soon. When I have written to the planning department about such issues, I have not even had an acknowledgement, let alone engagement.

Town planning is supposed to be a level playing field.