Pre-Application Community Consultation

A key element of the enhanced arrangements for community engagement is ensuring that community views are reflected at the earliest stage. Pre-application consultation with communities is a statutory requirement for all major, including regionally significant, development proposals. It is the responsibility of the applicant to undertake this consultation. Applicants for all major, including regionally significant developments, will therefore be required to demonstrate that they have undertaken consultation with the community prior to the submission of a planning application. Likewise councils must ensure that communities are given the opportunity to be actively involved in the preparation of their LDPs at the most appropriate stages in their preparation. In addition, Sections 40 (3) and 86 (2) of the 2011 Act provide a statutory requirement for certain descriptions of applications to be accompanied by a design and access statement (D&AS). The preparation of such a statement can be used to assist constructive discussion when engaging with the community at the early stages of a project.