Speak at committee meetings

Controversial planning applications will usually be decided by councillors.

In these situations, being able to speak at the committee meeting where the application is decided could make all the difference to your chance of success.

Councillors tend to be more responsive to the electorate's views when the depth of local feeling is made clear to them. Some councils offer members of the public the opportunity to speak for a few minutes to summarise their views.

To speak at a meeting

• Check which local authority committee deals with planning applications.
• If the local authority is deciding a planning application made in its own name, then the committee deciding it must be different from the one responsible for the property or land in question (according to the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992)
  
  
• Contact the local planning authority to confirm whether it allows interested members of the public to speak on planning applications.
• The procedures on whether and when people are allowed to speak vary by local planning authority
  
  
• Give early notice of your desire to speak
• Some local planning authorities require you to give this notice at the same time as you submit your response to a planning application
  
  
• If you are allowed to speak, confirm the date and location of the meeting and how long you will be able to speak
  
  
• You should find out who else is speaking at the meeting and work with them to reinforce the important shared points of your responses
  
  
• If the local planning authority does not provide this information, you can use the planning officer's report to the committee, which often sets out the most significant responses to the application.