Planning Committee

The Council allows the public to address the Planning Committee if at least three people have written to the Council to object to a planning application, and you are one of them. Details of your rights are set out in a leaflet which is available from the Council and on our website.

If you wish to speak on a planning application please email publicspeaking@runnymede.gov.uk

1. If at least three people have written to the Council to object to a planning application, and you are one of them, Runnymede Borough Council allows you to ask to address the Planning Committee. These notes tell you how you can exercise this right and the conditions which apply to it.

2. If you are one of the objectors:

a) You must make a written request to the publicspeaking@runnymede.gov.uk  Your request must arrive after the agenda has been published but at the latest by noon two working days before the Committee meeting. Planning Committee meetings are normally on a Wednesday. If so, the agenda will be published on the previous Tuesday, and thus the deadline for asking to speak will be noon on the Monday before the meeting. You must state which planning application you want to speak about (ideally by giving the application number, or address), and your name and address.

b) please remember you can only speak about a single application for planning permission. You may get a representative to speak on your behalf (see also (c) below). You cannot normally speak about more than one application, and you may not speak about any other planning matter such as applications for Certificates of Lawfulness, a breach of planning control or a planning policy decision.

c) because the Planning Committee will have a number of applications to consider, only one objector is allowed to speak about each one. If several of you have asked to do so, you can decide which one of you should speak and make this known before or at the meeting. If you cannot agree who should speak the Chairman will call whoever lodged the first written request to speak. In this case, no-one else will be allowed to speak unless that first person waives his or her right in favour of the next in line.

d) if you are called to speak, you must only speak about the planning application the Committee is considering, and you must say what you have to say within 5 minutes. You cannot ask questions or get the Committee or Officers into discussion. The Chairman might ask for clarification of something you have said but will not otherwise comment. You will not be allowed to speak on any other application at the same meeting, unless the Chairman allows you to because it is linked to the first application.

e) once you have spoken, the Chairman will give the applicant for planning permission (if present) a chance to speak. He or she will also be restricted to 5 minutes. The Members of the Planning Committee will then consider the application and only Councillors will be able to participate (advised by officers if necessary).

f) please bear in mind that by law the Council can only take into account certain matters when considering applications. It cannot, for example, pay any attention to the fact that a proposed building may be in breach of a restrictive covenant or might be thought to devalue somebody else's property. When they are discussing the application, the Councillors will normally try to restrict their remarks to the "planning considerations", although they will realise that there may be other matters which also concern people.