Statement of Community
Involvement 2023



What is the Statement of Community Involvement?

We are strongly committed to involving the public in all of our work. We believe that involving residents, businesses and communities is not only right in itself but also leads to better outcomes.

This Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) describes our approach to engaging people in the planning process and suggest appropriate ways in which people and communities may be involved at different stages.

This Statement was updated in July 2023 and replaces the previous version published in December 2018. It fulfils the statutory requirement in Section 10A of the 2012 Local Plan Regulations (as amended in 2017) that Statements of Community Involvement must be reviewed every five years.

This SCI is split into five parts:

  1. General principles
  2. Planning policy
  3. Neighbourhood Planning
  4. Development Management
  5. General principles

We will:

  • Meet minimum legal requirements for consultation, exceeding these where practical and reasonable to do so and resources allow;
  • Ensure that consultations are open to everyone, although more specialist or technical consultations may be targeted at specific groups;
  • Ensure that consultations are clear and in plain English where possible, whilst recognising that technical content may be needed in some cases;
  • Allow sufficient time for people to respond to / be involved in consultations;
  • Be clear about what is open for consultation;
  • Use electronic forms of communication wherever possible provided this is appropriate for the consultee and the nature of the consultation;
  • Keep those who participate informed of progress.

There are a number of ways in which consultation can be carried out and publicised:

  • Letters and emails to consultees – these will directly alert likely interested parties to the consultation being carried out.
  • The Authority’s website. The website contains space for direct links to consultations from the planning home page to ensure that a wide audience is aware of the consultation.
  • Press releases – if an article appears in the press, on the radio or on a news or interest website this is likely to reach a relatively large audience, but the content of the article or broadcast is at the discretion of the media organisation.
  • We place site notices on or near to an application site.
  • We place public notices in local newspapers alerting people to planning application.
  • Moors Messenger – this is the Authority’s own publication which is sent to all households and businesses in and around the National Park in November and May each year and enables us to communicate with every resident.
  • Drop-in sessions – these provide an opportunity for interested parties to discuss the consultation with officers from the Authority.
  • Social media (for example Twitter and Facebook) – These can alert a potentially wide audience (in interest and location) to a consultation, although can usually only contain a limited level of detail and will often feature a link to our website where more information will be held.

Planning policy

The Authority produces several documents which are used as the basis for making decisions on planning applications. These include Local Plans and Supplementary Planning Documents. Any Local Plans produced by us form the Development Plan and planning applications must be determined in accordance with the Development Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Supplementary Planning Documents add further detail to policies contained within Local Plans and are a material consideration when determining planning applications.

Local Plans and Supplementary Planning Documents must be prepared in accordance with the relevant regulations in force. These regulations will set out the required procedures for consultation, but these are often viewed as minimum requirements. Planning policy consultations will normally be held for a minimum period of six weeks.

We will also consult on any Sustainability Appraisal of a planning policy document. This can be lengthy and technical, and the Authority will produce a non-technical summary.

The Authority does not currently consult on the content of its Planning Advice Notes which cover topics of a technical and factual nature.

If you would like to be kept in touch about planning policy developments please complete our mailing list form,  or email us at policy@northyorkmoors.org.uk or telephone 01439 772700.

Any data collected will be processed fairly and lawfully and the rights of data subjects will be properly respected. Data will only be used by the Authority for the purposes of carrying out its functions in the public interest.

If you would like to find out about documents that are currently being produced and any current consultations, please see the planning policy pages on the Authority’s website.

Local Plans

The likely stages in Local Plan preparation are:

Evidence gathering

We will involve bodies with technical knowledge and adjoining planning authorities at this stage.

Issues and options

At this early stage we will publish evidence that will inform our plan and invite comments on what the plan could include. We will publish different options where possible. We will involve residents and businesses, interest groups, statutory bodies, Parish and Town Councils/Parish Meetings and adjoining planning authorities. We will publicise this by email, on the website, through social media and through the Moors Messenger, and will be available at drop-in sessions where needed.

Preferred options

This will be the first time we produce our proposed strategy, along with alternative options. We will engage with the same people and through the same methods as at Issues and Options Stage; and will also issue a press release.

A summary of the responses and an indication of how they have been addressed will normally be made available (except where the volume of responses received renders this task unfeasible in which case a summary of the types of comments made will be produced). This may be published alongside subsequent stages of consultation.

Publication

This is our ‘final draft’ plan that we wish to submit to Government for independent examination and we will invite any comments on the plan so that they can be submitted to Government alongside it. Following this consultation, we will submit the plan to Government and appoint a Programme Officer to manage the independent examination. We will then consult on any changes (known as ‘main modifications’ suggested by the Inspector) before the plan is amended and adopted. We will engage with the same people and through the same methods as at Issues and Options Stage; and will also issue a press release.

Supplementary Planning Documents

Supplementary Planning Documents do not contain policies, their purpose is to explain how policies will be implemented. They will generally be subject to one round of consultation using the same methods as the Local Plan Issues and Options stage as explained above. They are not subject to independent examination and will be formally adopted by the Authority once comments have been considered and a final version has been prepared.

Neighbourhood Planning

Neighbourhood Plans are prepared by local communities for their own parishes or areas with the support and advice from the Local Planning Authority. Plans are produced by a Neighbourhood Planning Group - a Town or Parish Council, or where there is no recognised council, a Neighbourhood Forum. Local planning authorities are required to support qualifying bodies in the production of their plans and are ultimately responsible for formally incorporating the eventual plan into their statutory planning framework.

A Planning Advice Note has been prepared by the Authority which explains the process in more detail.

The North York Moors National Park Authority will act as the lead local planning authority for Neighbourhood Plan areas wholly within the North York Moors National Park boundary. Where a Neighbourhood Plan area falls partly within the National Park and partly within a neighbouring council, the local planning authority with the main centre or majority of population within its boundary will act as lead.

The role of the Authority is to offer advice and assistance and to take the draft plan through a consultation and examination stage and on to final adoption. In addition, any draft plan or order will need to be subject to a public referendum. As the National Park Authority is not an election authority (i.e., it does not hold elections or referenda) responsibility for any referendum will rest with the relevant council (North Yorkshire or Redcar and Cleveland).

The roles and responsibilities of the qualifying body, elections authority and the National Park Authority differ. The following paragraphs sets out where the National Park Authority will offer support and advice.

Designation of a Neighbourhood Plan Area

Geographical areas must be formally designated as a ‘Neighbourhood Plan Area’ before a plan can be produced. At this stage, the National Park Authority will explain the Neighbourhood Plan process, check that the designation of area application is valid and complete, publicise designation of area application and finally designate the area as a neighbourhood area where it meets the relevant conditions.

Plan preparation

At this stage, the National Park Authority will foster an open and collaborative approach to the development of the plan. The Neighbourhood Planning Group will carry out consultation for a minimum of six weeks on the early stages of the plan. A consultation statement must then be submitted to the North York Moors National Park Authority along with the draft plan indicating what consultation has been carried out and how it has informed the preparation of the draft plan.

The Authority will offer advice and support, for example on meeting basic conditions, consideration of the need for environmental assessments, suitability of supporting evidence and consultation statement, compatibility with national planning guidance and Local Plan policies. It will share existing information and evidence base work held by the Authority, as appropriate and subject to any data protection or confidentiality issues and will provide an indicative housing provision figure if requested by the qualifying body. It will provide constructive comments on the emerging plan and other supporting documents (e.g., Basic Condition Statement) prior to formal submission.

Submission

On submission to the Authority it will validate, check and publicise the submission for a minimum of six weeks. As a minimum, the documents will be published on our website and comments invited from prescribed statutory bodies and those who have previously indicated an interest.

Examination

The Authority will appoint the examiner, publish all required documents, arrange any hearing, notify parties and make documents available on a website as directed by the examiner. It will undertake modifications to the plan as recommended by the examiner and publish a decision statement on the Authority’s website.

Referendum

The Authority will inform the Electoral Authority (EA) as soon as possible of the likely timescale for referendum, work with the EA to ensure that the timings and resourcing of referendum are reasonable, clearly understood and agreed in advance and will meet the reasonable costs of the referendum.

‘Made’

The Authority will publish the decision statement on website, advising that the document is now ‘made’ and forms part of the Local Plan and send a copy of the decision statement to the Neighbourhood Planning Group and advise any person who asked to be notified that the plan has been made.

Development Management

Permitted development advice

Establishing whether or not a development needs permission can be quite complex. First and foremost, it is important to establish whether the development is permitted under national legislation. Furthermore, there may be constraints on the property/land for example an Article 4 Direction or previous restrictive planning permissions that remove permitted development rights to carry out work. As such the Authority operates a chargeable permitted development advice service in order to assess and confirm whether the submission of an application is required. Details of the service the Authority offers is available on the planning pages of our website.

Pre-application discussions

We encourage pre-application discussions with planning officers, even for minor schemes. This is to assess whether the principle of development is acceptable and to identify any potential issues that can be resolved prior to the submission of an application. This helps reduce the time taken to process a decision and improves the prospect of an approval. Please note there is a charge for pre-application advice and the procedure and associated cost is available on the planning pages of our website. Applicants are also encouraged to discuss their proposals with neighbours or others likely to be affected.

For certain schemes which are likely to be contentious or have wider community impacts, the applicant will be encouraged to undertake more formal pre-application consultation with the local community and other relevant organisations. Such community consultation is expected for major development proposals (ten or more dwellings or on a site of 0.5 hectares or more, or other developments with a floor space of 1,000m2 or on a site of 1 hectare or more) or a significant proposal that departs from adopted policy. Under powers introduced by the 2011 Localism Act, community consultation is now a legal requirement in relation to proposals for two or more wind turbines or where the hub height exceeds 15 metres and similar requirements could be introduced for other forms of development in the future.

For such schemes consultation should use one of the following methods:

  • Contact with the Parish/Town Council(s)/Parish Meeting(s);
  • Public meeting/display/exhibition;
  • Distribution of leaflets to residents;
  • Local press coverage;
  • Use of social media.

However, we suggest that discussions with the Authority take place prior to carrying out any consultation in order to ensure the most appropriate methods are undertaken.

Application stage

Once received and validated, subject to the type of application and national legislation requirements, we will display a site notice on or near the application site and will advise immediate neighbours with a mutual boundary and clearly identifiable address point on our mapping system or those considered likely to be affected by letter. A separate consultation letter will be sent by email to the relevant Town or Parish Council or Parish Meeting, statutory consultees and other organisations in the community, such as amenity bodies. In some cases, particularly major development (as defined in the NPPF glossary of terms), applications subject to Environmental Impact Assessment, departures from the Development Plan, or development affecting a conservation area, Listed Building or Public Right of Way, there are extra publicity requirements, including a requirement for the Authority to advertise the proposal in a local paper.

The press/site notice and all consultations allow 21 days (30 days in the case of applications accompanied by an Environmental Statement) for comments to be made to the Authority and a longer time period will be given on request wherever possible. Officers are available to answer queries on submitted schemes and can be contacted by phone, email, or in person (by appointment) at the Helmsley office. Officers are also available to meet members of a Town or Parish Council/Meeting to help local people formulate their comments on development proposals. On occasions applications are determined by Planning Committee prior to the end of the statutory consultation period. Where comments are subsequently received which raise new planning issues the application would be reconsidered by Planning Committee.

All planning application forms and plans can be viewed electronically at the Authority’s offices in Helmsley and on our website.

Comments can be made by letter, e-mail or through the web site, and any comments made which constitute a material planning consideration are taken into account.

Where the planning case officer considers significant changes are proposed to applications that have not yet been determined, those people who commented on the matter in respect of the original application will be re-consulted. Amended plans are available for inspection electronically at the Authority’s offices in Helmsley and on the Authority’s website.

Decision making

Where an application is to be determined by the Planning Committee (usually the more contentious ones or ones not in-line with adopted policy), the applicant/agent, one objector, one supporter and the Town or Parish Council/Meeting, can speak at the meeting for three minutes in support of their views to supplement and reinforce information contained in the planning application. For major applications it may be necessary to be flexible with regards to the amount of time allowed for speaking. Anyone who has commented on an application will be informed in writing of the date and time of the meeting. Guidance is available explaining the public speaking procedures. Planning Committee meetings can be observed by any member of the public and will be streamed on our website.

The Planning Committee is guided by the policies of the adopted Local Plan when reaching decisions on planning applications but will also have regard to relevant responses made in relation to the application together with the officer presentation. Certain applications are determined by the Director of Planning under the agreed scheme of delegation, which applies to both approvals and refusals. At the time of writing applications meeting the following criteria will be determined by the Planning Committee:

  1. Where more than three non-confidential written representations, which are based on planning grounds and which are contrary to the proposed decision (which in the case of an approval cannot be addressed by the imposition of conditions), have been received from separate and independent households/organisations (excluding the applicant or applicant’s agent) before the close of the relevant consultation period.
  2. A written representation, based on planning grounds, is received from a statutory consultee, a parish/town council or parish meeting which is contrary to the proposed decision, and which cannot be addressed by the imposition of conditions.
  3. There are material circumstances which in the opinion of the National Park Officer or Director of Planning and in the best interests of the National Park, warrant referral to Committee.
After the decision

All decisions are posted on our website within 24 hours of the decision being made. Copies of decision notices are available online and also available for inspection at the Authority’s offices in Helmsley. In cases where the decision taken by the Authority is contrary to the views of the Parish/Town Council/Meeting a letter will be sent explaining the reasons for this and the basis of the decision.

Concerns about approved developments not being implemented in accordance with approved plans or conditions can be raised with officers in the Enforcement Team.

If a decision is taken to appeal anyone who commented on the original application will be notified and advised of the appeal process. With the exception of householder applications there is an opportunity for anyone who made comments on the original application to make further comments to the Planning Inspectorate.

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