[Lee O'Brien]

Harvey

Given the size of a Borough Council, it would seem more advisable to have a single Planning committee rather than separate area committees.

At Selby District Council there is only a single Planning committee that deals with the full range of planning applications with little difficulty. It can also be seen as a more efficient use of time.

In terms of reviews, the decision to have anything different to a single Planning Committee has never been raised following the initial move away from Area committees - so that must be a good thing

Lee

[Ed Hammond]

I am aware of a few authorities who have area-based planning committees but none of them districts. I will get a list of names...

Some authorities link in the planning process with neighbourhood forums / ward committees / parish councils. Sometimes those bodies make representations to the appropriate planning committee.

In my view they're difficult to achieve in practice because if you're having an area based planning approach, arguably the best people to sit on that committee would be the relevant ward councillors, but then you can encounter issues with predetermination (although predetermination is apparently being got rid of).

There also doesn't seem to be any huge overriding policy reason to move to an area basis for planning decisions (certainly not in a smallish district, as has been highlighted above)

As may be apparently this is moving slightly outside my area of expertise!

[Jane Harman [2]]

If it is of any help - my previous authority , Elmbridge Borough Council in Surrey, was a borough council with an area-based planning committee system (1 overarching committee with 3 sub-committees on an area basis - solely on planning issues and not directly linked to other community/ area issues). I didn't have any direct involvement with the planning committees so can't really comment on why that system was established and its advantages and disadvantages (although I don't recall hearing too many negative issues raised - except for resourcing pressures) but it is an example of a borough council that you could look at in any research.