Community involvement in local planning

How you can get involved in planning

Public consultations 

We consult local people as part of plan-making, on the different types of planning documents that we produce.

Commenting on planning application

You can comment on a planning applications by following the instructions on our 'how to make a comment' page. We'll only come to a decision on a planning application after taking your comments into consideration.

Our community involvement principles at a glance

Involve you as early as possible

For instance we encourage applicants who use our pre-application advice service to consult those affected before submitting their application.

Transparent planning processes

We make the purpose and scope of any planning consultation clear, take into account the views received, and publish consultation material in plain English.

Involve as many people as possible

We'll use appropriate ways to get as many people involved as possible, using all available communication methods eg via social media, in local media, presentations and forums, leaflets etc.

Listen and feedback

We'll provide accessible feedback on the results of consultations and how they've been used.

Download our statement of community involvement 2022 in full

For full information, and details on how each of the different types of consultation run, download the document below.

Statement of community involvement 2022 (PDF, 463KB)

Additional community rights from the Localism Act 2011

The Localism Act 2011 brought in three community rights related to planning so that local communities can shape new development in their area. You can read about them here