Agenda item - Chair's Communications

43.1    The Chair stated: Following the golden thread of disability access and equalities which characterised our last meeting; I will be meeting with Pippa Hodge, along with Cllrs Ebel and Osbourne and senior Planning Officers, to determine what equalities needs should be fed into both training for Councillors and Officers and our Local planning Authorities future policy developments.

Secondly, there have been repeated requests for us to publish the details of objectors and supporters of applications on our website. The research into this idea has now been carried out, and this is the final outcome.

“In line with the new rules introduced by GDPR in May 2018, officers sought legal advice and reviewed the need to share the location of representations received on planning applications. As a result, the view was taken that the location of representations was not a material consideration in assessing planning applications. Therefore, there was no legal basis to reveal addresses in committee reports or on the Register. 

In the autumn of 2019, the then Planning Member Working Group requested that this be reviewed as those sitting on the group at the time felt respondent addresses should be a material planning consideration. 

Officers have been working with ICT and our application database (Uniform) to explore options on how this can be achieved efficiently. The Planning Register can be changed to show addresses automatically, however, resident’s information before 2018 and since 2018 would be revealed as well as current information, which would be a breach of GDPR rules - so this is not possible. 

Officers have also researched what neighbouring authorities do. It has been confirmed that none of our neighbours provide a list of addresses in reports or reveal addresses on their Planning Register. In addition, providing addresses is contrary to the current advice of the Planning Advisory Service.

For these reasons, officers have recommended that we do not pursue making this change in reports and to the Planning Register and this was agreed at the Planning Committee Member Working Group on the 27th October 2021.”