Planning applications committee (FOI)

​​Request

Please advise me of the following information concerning the Planning Applications Committee as constituted this year:

A.

What is the role of the Planning Applications Committee?

B.

What functions have been allocated to the Planning Applications Committee?

C.

Please identify all Directions that have been issued to the Planning Applications Committee

D.

Please identify all Directions that have been issued to members of the Planning Applications Committee in their roles as members of that Committee

E.

Do members of the Planning Application Committee have a job description? If so please provide me with a copy.

F.

What brief have the members of the Planning Applications Committee been given for when they are considering planning applications?

G.

What training, including Policy training, have the members of the Planning Applications Committee been given to help them in their role? Please identify this on a per member basis.

H.

Please provide me with copies of code of conduct documents, apart from civil service wide documents, which Building and Planning staff are required to abide by when:

1.

Meeting with prospective planning applicants

2.

Meeting with architects or other agents of planning applicants or prospective applicants concerning any individual property or properties

I.

Please provide me with the job descriptions for the following Building and Planning posts:
Compliance Officer
Planner
Assistant Senior Planner
Senior Planner
Principal Planner
Principal Planning Officer Policy (see Principal Historic Building Advisor)
Director Planning (see Assistant Director Development)

Response

A.

The Planning Applications Committee is constituted to consider matters associated with the determination of applications for planning permission and similar matters.

The involvement of States Members in considering applications for planning permission is a fundamental and well established pillar of the planning process. Members are in a position to weigh matters of land use planning policy against the aspirations of applicants and the potential concerns of the public.

The Committee is appointed by the States under Standing Orders of the States of Jersey.

Download Standing Orders of the States of Jersey (size 524KB)
 

B.

The Planning Applications Committee functions under Article 9A of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002. The committee is empowered by the Law to:

• determine applications for planning permission,
• determine applications for retrospective planning permission,
• determine applications to vary/remove a condition attached to a planning permission
• give reasons for any decision
• attach conditions to the determination of an application
• terminate a planning permission by reference to a time limit
• revoke or modify a grant of planning permission
• serve an enforcement notice where it appears to the committee that there has been a breach of development (planning) controls
• vary/withdraw an enforcement notice
• issue a stop notice
• determine applications for advertisements
• determine applications for moveable structures

Matters referred to the committee for consideration are accompanied by a written report from the Chief Officer, Department of the Environment. The report sets out the material considerations in connection with any matter.

The committee also can also review decisions taken by the Chief Officer where the decision is to refuse an application for planning permission or attach a particular condition to the grant of planning permission (Article 22A of the Law). Such a review can be made subject to a request by the applicant within 28 days of the date of the initial decision. In reviewing the decision the committee will make a decision that substitutes the initial decision.

C.

No directions have been issued to the committee.

What is in place is an agreement between the committee and the Chief Officer of the Department of the Environment as to which issues are referred to the committee for their consideration as required by Article 9A(1A). The agreement currently in place was ratified by the committee at their first meeting of 23 April 2015. A copy of the report setting out the agreement and the corresponding minute of the committee is below:

Download planning applications committee procedures and arrangements (size 35.3KB)

D.

Refer to the answer given in 3 above.

E.

There is no job description.

Members of the committee committed to a code of conduct at their meeting of 23 April 2015. A copy of the code is included in the report included in 3 above.

F.

Matters referred to the committee for consideration are accompanied by a written report from the Chief Officer, Department of the Environment. The report sets out the material considerations in connection with any matter.

G.

All current members of the committee – when it was constituted as the Planning Applications Panel - attended a training session hosted by an independent professional planner in December 2014. A copy of the agenda for the training is attached to indicate the issues discussed.

Download introduction to planning training programme (size 39.6KB)

In addition to the initial training, committee members have met with the Minister on three occasions. This has included further training and debate on a variety of topics, including replacement windows policy, green zone policy and a site visit tour of previously approved developments.

H.

The Department does not have any codes of conduct relating to such meetings.

I.

Job descriptions below:

Download job descriptions (size 2.58MB)​