Planning Matters
Departure Applications
In recent Newsletters, ‘Planning Matters’ has reported on planning applications that have been ‘Called-in’ by the Secretary of State and we thought it appropriate to explain when and why this happens.
There is a procedure that must be followed for applications for planning permission for development which do not accord with one or more provisions of the Development Plan (the County Council’s Structure Plan and the District Council’s Local Plan) and which the Local Planning Authority does not propose to refuse. These are called ‘departure applications’. Firstly, there is a two-step procedure:
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If an application does not accord with the provisions of the adopted Development Plan and the Local Planning Authority proposes to grant it, the decision cannot be made until it has been publicised by a site notice and a local newspaper advertisement and the County Planning Authority has been consulted;
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The second step is to decide whether or not to notify the Secretary of State of the application before deciding it. There are three types of development in which this must be done, of which the most important, from the Friends of the Lizard point of view, is . . . any development which, by reason of its scale or nature or the location of the land, would significantly prejudice the implementation of the Development Plan’s policies and proposals.
The advice in Circular 07/99 on how to interpret this category gives eight examples of the types of development proposals which might significantly prejudice such policies and, of these, the most significant for us is: ‘Applications significantly affecting Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Conservation Areas, Grade 1 and 2* Listed Buildings, and Scheduled Ancient Monuments.’ The whole of the Lizard Peninsula is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which also contains a particularly high number of all the other special designations. The Circular also says that particular weight should be given to the consultation reply of the County Planning Authority.
Secondly, Circular 07/99 says that the Secretary of State considers it essential to be aware of the reasons why the Local Planning Authority does not propose to refuse a ‘departure application’, and documents setting them out must be sent in cases that are notified to him following the second step of the procedure described above.
Thirdly, the Circular advises on applications where the Secretary of State is notified – ‘The notification requirements provide the Secretary of State with an opportunity to check general compliance with Development Plan policies and to consider whether an application should be ‘called-in’ for his own determination. If the Secretary of State ‘calls-in’ a ‘departure application’, the Council can no longer decide it. Instead, a Public Inquiry is held at which the Council explains the reasons why it was minded to approve the application.
It should also be appreciated that the Secretary of State also has the power to ‘call-in’ any application, even if it is not notified to him under the ‘departure’ procedure and, again, the practical effect is to deprive the Local Planning Authority of jurisdiction to decide it.
It is the frequency of Kerrier District Council’s recent ‘departure’ and ‘call-in’ applications that led to the ‘polite ticking off’ of the Council by the Government Office for the South West, reported in the West Briton in May 2003 and in our last Newsletter, and to the instigation of planning training for elected councillors.
The Register of Parks and Gardens
The first edition of the
Parks and Gardens Register took four years to compile, in the sole hands
of the redoubtable Dr Christopher Thacker. Quick completion of a
material register was given priority over production of a more
definitive magnum opus and accompanying maps that were to come later.
With the generous and essential help of many interested individuals and
bodies
As with historic buildings, it was decided to grade the gardens to indicate their relative importance, with the highest category Grade I (approximately 10% of the total), Grade II* (approx 30%) and Grade II for the remainder. The storms of 1987 and 1990 prompted both the institution of a gardens grant scheme, to aid the restoration of storm damage in Grade I and II* sites, and the drawing up of historic surveys for those sites applying for grant aid. As a result, the historic knowledge of a significant group of gardens was substantially increased and much valuable work was carried out on over-mature and declining landscapes.
Cornwall’s volume of the Register was published in 1987 and, initially,
included 22 sites of which Mount Edgcumbe, Port Eliot and Tresco were
Grade I.
Within the Kerrier District Council’s area were Glendurgan and Trebah
(both Grade II).
By the end of 1994,
David Richardson |
Garden history is a
comparatively young and dynamic subject, having become academically
recognised only since the 1960s. However, the 1983 National Heritage
Act gave powers to English Heritage to prepare and publish a ‘Register
of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England’. The
compilation of the Register was begun in 1984, long after other aspects
of our historic and built environment, such as the Scheduling of Ancient
Monuments (1883), Listed Buildings (1948) and the designation of
Conservation Areas (1967).
the
total in the County had risen to 32 including the addition of Enys,
Lismore, Penjerrick and Trelowarren (all Grade
