Annual Report 2023
This year’s Annual Report, adopted by our members at the AGM on 17 October 2023, is now available to download. Read about our work over this past year and please contact us if you would like any more information.
Demand for our planning advice service remains constant and groups continue to contact us for help and advice in understanding complex planning procedures, legislation and regulations as they seek to influence how proposed development will shape their communities. Our work this year included: provision of advice on a wide range of complex and detailed regional and local council planning policies; helping groups prepare statements of case for planning appeals; and advice to groups on procedural aspects of the Public Inquiry process.
We also provided advice and support to groups seeking help on planning requirements pertaining to their own community facilities including proposals to develop a community hub and nature trail; a community garden on an interface site; and converting a former bank building for community use. We advised groups on a wide range of urban and rural development proposals including men’s sheds; housing and apartment developments; community gardens; and anaerobic digesters.
Planning Advice to People and Communities We helped people submit their comments to planning applications for a wide range of proposals including wind turbines, a pig farm adjacent to a residential dwelling, manufacturing, distribution and waste storage facilities, tourism accommodation in the countryside, a hotel development in an AONB, dwellings on farms and houses in the countryside, sporting facilities, sand and gravel operations, and housing developments. We also provided advice on enforcement proceedings; neighbour notification; planning conditions; the planning appeals process; retrospective planning applications; and the requirement for planning permission for a range of domestic structures and alterations.
Our advice service covers the whole region and during 2022-2023 we helped 31 groups and 107 individuals with planning queries. The Department for Infrastructure part-funds our advice service and we welcome its commitment to continue to support the organisation in this forthcoming year.