2. Planning Committee Meeting
To speak on a planning application
To speak on an application at Planning Committee you must have submitted written comments during the consultation stage of the application.
Those that have commented on an application being considered by the Committee will receive a letter or email from the Planning Department detailing the date and time of the meeting and instructions on how to register to speak.
The letter/email will have a reference number, which you will need to provide in order to register.
Those who are eligible to speak for up to 3 minutes on an application can register 5 working days before the meeting from 10am Tuesday up until 12 noon on Friday, by leaving a message on 01395 517525 or e-mailing planningpublicspeaking@eastdevon.gov.uk. Requests to speak outside of this registration period will not be considered.
To ensure fairness in the allocation of speakers, we can only accept requests to speak made through the dedicated number and email above.
The number of people that can speak on each application is limited to:
- Major applications – parish/town council representative, 5 supporters, 5 objectors and the applicant or agent
- Minor/Other applications – parish/town council representative, 2 supporters, 2 objectors and the applicant or agent
Whether an application is classified under the legislation as a major, minor or other will be noted on the agenda for the meeting.
A Democratic Services Officer will contact you to acknowledge receipt of your request to speak and confirm whether your request has been successful.
Speakers will be registered on a first come, first served basis. The contact details of registered speakers will be published on an updated agenda on the website to allow others, who may have wished to speak, to contact them. If you do not agree to being contacted, only the name will be published. These details will only be retained on the website until an agenda for the next committee meeting is published (roughly one month).
Two working days before the meeting a revised running order for the applications being considered by the Committee will posted on the website. Applications with registered speakers will be taken first.
Parish and Town Councils - parish and town council representatives wishing to speak on an application are also required to pre-register in advance of the meeting. One representative can be registered to speak on behalf of the Council 5 working days before the meeting from 10am Tuesday up until 12 noon Friday by leaving a message on 01395 517525 or emailing planningpublicspeaking@eastdevon.gov.uk.
Should anyone have any special needs or require any reasonable adjustments to assist them in making individual contributions, please contact democratic services.
The meeting procedure is:
- The relevant officer will introduce and outline the application to be discussed. The Chairman will then ask public speakers to speak on that matter only, in turn.
- All individual contributions will be limited to a period of three minutes. Speakers will be warned if their time has run out and be asked to stop.
- Speakers should restrict their comments to planning considerations only.
- The chairman has the right and discretion to control questions and irrelevant points being raised to avoid disruption, repetition and to make best use of the meeting time.
- After the public speaking period has finished the consideration of reports will begin and the public cannot speak further at the meeting.
- All attendees at the meeting are asked to offer all speakers the courtesy of listening to others’ points of view, even if they do not agree with it.
- The chairman will not tolerate any interruptions from the public and is entitled to exclude people from the meeting if the business of the committee cannot be carried out effectively, by removing them from the virtual meeting if a warning is not heeded.
The meeting is recorded for subsequent publication on the council's website.