Statement of Community Involvement for Planning Draft Consultation - January 2020
1. Introduction
1.1. The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) sets out how you can influence planning matters in North Hertfordshire. This includes explaining how you can be involved in:
- The preparation and review of the Local Plan;
- Neighbourhood planning; and
- Individual planning applications for development.
1.2. In addition, the SCI sets out the Council's expectations upon developers with regard to involving the community in planning proposals.
1.3. The SCI reflects the latest planning policy guidance and changes to legislation. The Council, as the local planning authority, is required to prepare an SCI in accordance with Section 18 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.
1.4. The first Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) was adopted by the Council in 2006 with further revisions in 2012 and 2015.
1.5. The SCI needs to be reviewed as the legislation has been amended to include a duty on local planning authorities to review their SCIs every five years. Additionally, the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 has introduced a requirement on local planning authorities to include within their SCIs their policies for giving advice and assistance on making and modifying neighbourhood development plans and on making neighbourhood development orders.
1.6. The District Council published a Consultation Strategy in September 2015. Whilst the SCI has been prepared with reference to the Consultation Strategy, it is specifically written for planning policy consultations and consultations associated with planning applications.
1.7. This draft SCI will be published for a six week public consultation, xxxx to xxxx. The documentation is available for inspection on the website and at the Council Offices, Gernon Road, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3JF during normal office hours.
Responses can be submitted by:
online : www.north-herts.gov.uk/xxxxxx
email : localplans@north-herts.gov.uk
post : NHDC, PO Box 10613, Nottingham, NG6 6DW
1.8. An SCI is subject to public consultation but it does not need to be submitted for examination.