Planning Committee site visits

Cairngorms Plan­ning Advice Note Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Site Visits

Pub­lished: Septem­ber 2022

Why and when have site vis­its? The pur­pose of a Plan­ning Com­mit­tee site vis­it is to help Com­mit­tee Mem­bers under­stand the details of a plan­ning applic­a­tion in the con­text of its site and the land and build­ings around it.

The Plan­ning Com­mit­tee does not nor­mally need a site vis­it. All of the inform­a­tion needed to determ­ine a plan­ning applic­a­tion will be in the rel­ev­ant Com­mit­tee papers so a site vis­it is only held when the applic­a­tion is for a very com­plic­ated or con­ten­tious development.

Site vis­its can be pro­posed and agreed by Com­mit­tee Mem­bers or arranged between the Head of Plan­ning and Com­mit­tee Con­vener. The Com­mit­tee Stand­ing Orders provide more detail on how site vis­its are arranged.

Site vis­its will nor­mally take place on the day of the Plan­ning Com­mit­tee when the applic­a­tion is sched­uled to be con­sidered. They will be led by a CNPA Plan­ning Officer.

Who can attend? The Plan­ning Ser­vice will noti­fy inter­ested parties includ­ing the applic­ant, agent, any object­ors, sup­port­ers or Com­munity Coun­cil rep­res­ent­at­ives of the time and date of a site vis­it. Such parties are wel­come to attend the site vis­it. For land that is out­with pub­lic access rights (e.g. a work­ing quarry) the per­mis­sion of the site own­er will be required. The noti­fic­a­tion from the CNPA will explain any restric­tions or spe­cial arrange­ments people need to make in order to attend.

What hap­pens on a site vis­it? Site vis­its will start at the time noti­fied. The Con­vener of the Com­mit­tee will over­see the con­duct of site vis­its with sup­port from a Plan­ning Officer.

The Con­vener will wel­come every­one, explain­ing what will hap­pen dur­ing the vis­it and how people attend­ing are expec­ted to behave. The Plan­ning Officer will explain any health and safety issues or rules that the people attend­ing must fol­low. The Plan­ning Officer will then sum­mar­ise the pro­posed devel­op­ment and the issues that are relevant.

The vis­it will nor­mally involve going to a few loc­a­tions in and around the site where fea­tures of interest or par­tic­u­lar views of the site will be poin­ted out. There is no note or minute kept of a site visit.

At the site vis­it the Com­mit­tee Mem­bers should:

• arrive at the site meet­ing point at the time noti­fied so that the Con­vener and Plan­ning Officer are avail­able to coordin­ate the vis­it. Ideally they should travel to the site at the same time. If Com­mit­tee Mem­bers arrive early, they must take care to ensure that they main­tain their objectiv­ity about the pro­posed development;
• keep togeth­er in one group with the Con­vener and the Plan­ning Officer and not engage in dis­cus­sion, either indi­vidu­ally or in small groups, with the applic­ant or any oth­er people present;
• ask ques­tions only through the Con­vener and seek cla­ri­fic­a­tion about any plan­ning mat­ter relat­ing to the pro­pos­al or sur­round­ing land;
• not, at any time, debate the plan­ning mer­its or oth­er­wise of a pro­pos­al until such time as they are in the rel­ev­ant Com­mit­tee meeting.

Inter­ested parties attend­ing the site vis­it should:

• be quiet and listen to the Com­mit­tee Member’s ques­tions and answers;
• only speak to the Mem­bers if the Con­vener has agreed to allow it, or if asked to by the Con­vener and then only point out rel­ev­ant site fea­tures and facts. Inter­ested parties are not allowed to make points about the mer­its or prob­lems of the pro­posed devel­op­ment or to intro­duce new information.

Health and Safety Every­one wants the site vis­it to go well. Some sites can be dan­ger­ous (for example due to traffic, machinery or haz­ards that may not be obvi­ous) and it is import­ant that every­one stays safe. The Plan­ning Officer is the Authority’s del­eg­ated ​‘Safety Officer’ for the site vis­it and will have pre­pared a risk assess­ment for it. This will provide the basis for the safety brief­ing and any decisions taken by the Plan­ning Officer about the health and safety arrange­ments. Every­body attend­ing the site vis­it must fol­low any instruc­tions giv­en to keep them­selves and the whole group as safe as possible.

Fur­ther advice You can get more advice from the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity plan­ning ser­vice at planning@​cairngorms.​co.​uk Tel: 01479 873535