Partner organisation commitment
The council is committed to coordinated cross-departmental working. However, for large complex schemes other stakeholders from partner organisations are likely to be required to provide a timely, proactive response to each project. The council commits to working proactively with other stakeholders, including the Statutory Agencies (Highways England, Environment Agency and Natural England) and the Primary Health Care Trust to facilitate a responsive approach to the development proposals. Furthermore, where major development sites straddle local authority boundaries or create issues external to Central Bedfordshire the council will ensure that the joint working approach is fully embraced with neighbouring authorities. The local planning authority and Partner organisations are committed to sharing existing information with developers and scheme promoters wherever possible.
Member involvement
Councillors' engagement will be sought as part of the consultation process on PPA schemes in agreement with the case officer named in the PPA.
councillors are involved so they can gain an understanding of the project and other relevant issues. They may ask questions and raise issues but will not be expected to offer personal opinions on a scheme. Those councillors who also sit on the Development Management Committee and determine applications will need to adhere to the Code of Conduct for Members and cannot predetermine their view on a scheme that will subsequently be the subject of a planning application. Applicants should not engage privately with councillors.
For very large applications and where appropriate, briefings may be held with relevant councillors, particularly those whose electoral ward the PPA scheme is situated. councillors may also attend workshops or ‘Enquiry by Design’ events for schemes.
Funding
The cost of a PPA is dependent on the scale of the application, the resources required and input from officers for the project, and will be based on a local benchmarked average daily rate for officers, including overheads. The fees cover our costs for providing the advice and must be set on a not-for-profit basis. If we did not charge this the cost would be met by council taxpayers generally.
For very large schemes which may have multiple PPAs over a number of years, to cover pre-application masterplanning, outline and then detailed applications, the council will review the charging schedule with the applicant on a quarterly basis to ensure its practical implementation and that the resources are appropriately set. Larger schemes will also be subject to scheduled staged payments. The initial assessment of the resources required may result in a need to bring in additional expertise, specialist reports or workshops (such as Design Review Panels), to be funded by the applicant. Importantly, any fees paid do not directly fund the person or people involved in the project.
Where a planning application for a major development proposal is submitted without a planning performance agreement, it will be handled as a routine application within the existing workload of the team, without dedicated resource.
Freedom of Information Requests
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the council may receive requests to disclose pre-application advice that we have provided. If you require the information supplied to be confidential, please advise us in writing of the reasons valid under the Act for this at the time of your request. We will not respond at the time of your request but will take it into account when deciding whether to release information.