Statement of Community Involvement for Planning Draft Consultation - January 2020
5. Community Involvement in Local Planning
5.1. The council is committed to involving as many local people, groups and organisations as possible in developing its planning policies for the District. An extensive consultation database is already in place which includes the following types of organisations:
- Statutory consultees; (see Appendix 2)
- Central government departments;
- Town, Parish and Community Councils;
- Neighbourhood Planning Steering Groups;
- Parish Meetings;
- Hertfordshire County Council;
- Hertfordshire District and Borough Councils;
- Neighbouring local authorities;
- Neighbouring Parish Councils;
- The North Hertfordshire Partnership (LSP);
- Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation;
- Local community groups and organisations;
- Black and minority ethnic groups;
- Religious / faith groups;
- Disabled persons organisations;
- Developers, landowners and agents;
- Businesses and business interest groups; and
- Individual members of the public.
This list is illustrative, not definitive.
5.2. The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 defines "specific consultation bodies" and "general consultation bodies" and these are listed in Appendix 2.
5.3. During consultations, we will ensure that we meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, which aims to promote equality, eliminate discrimination and encourage good relations between different groups associated with age, disability, gender, race, religion and other protected characteristics. It is recognised that some parts of the community are not always adequately represented in planning consultations and in the planning process.
5.4. In North Hertfordshire these groups are considered to be:
- People with disabilities;
- Black and ethnic minority groups;
- Working age people;
- Young people; and
- Gypsy and traveller communities
5.5. The council's Policy and Community Engagement Team has established links with these "hard to reach groups". In preparing planning documents the Strategic Planning and Strategic Infrastructure and Projects Team will work with the Policy and Community Engagement Team to further develop those links and try to encourage more involvement in the future.
5.6. The consultation list for the local plan and neighbourhood plans is always open to new consultees. If you would like to add your name to that list, the best way is by registering your contact details through the website: https://north-herts.oc2.uk/register. Registering your interest this way, allows you to decide which areas of local planning work you are interested in and amend your details when necessary.
5.7. You can also register your interest by contacting the Strategic Planning Team using the details below:
Strategic Planning Team
North Hertfordshire District Council
PO Box 10613
Nottingham
NG6 6DW
Email : localplans@north-herts.gov.uk
Telephone : 01462 474000
5.8. To ensure that you receive all the information that you are interested in, we will need your name, organisation (where appropriate), either an email address or a postal address and an indication of the types of local planning issues you might be interested in. We will only contact you if you "opt-in" to receive details about particular types of local planning documents.
5.9. The privacy notice for the Regulatory Directorate sets out how your personal data will be used and by whom. This privacy notice is available on the Council's website[1]
5.10. We will review our local plan consultation list on a regular basis. We may contact you from time-to-time to ensure that your details are kept up to date and that you do not receive any information which you have not requested. Please do not ignore these emails and letters. If you do not respond we may have to delete you from our database. This is because of changes in the laws which say how we must protect your data and personal information.