Annual Parish Meeting - 2012

This committee meets twice a month, usually dealing with four or five new applications each time.  We listen to representations from applicants and objectors to applications during the public forum at the beginning of each meeting.  Increasingly we get pre-application presentations from developers as part of the new Localism Bill.

Box Parish Council is not the local planning authority, Wiltshire Council is, so we can only make recommendations.  Sometimes Wiltshire agree with us and sometimes they don’t !  Most decisions are made by the planning officer under delegated powers.  A very small number are made by Councillors of the development control committee of Wiltshire Council, but only if this is specifically requested by the Wiltshire Councillor who represents the area of the proposed development.

Our  planning committee has responded to the draft Core Strategy document put out by Wiltshire Council which will be the strategic document for planning decisions in the future.  The final document will be published at the end of the year, after an “examination in public” by a Government Inspector.

The function of the conservation part of this committee is to inspect the varying monuments in the parish and recommend any repairs to the full council meeting.

Finally, my advice to any parishioners putting in a planning application is to talk it over with your neighbours and try and accommodate any concerns.  Many a relationship has been ruined by development, and that is a shame.