Making a deputation to Planning Committee
Fareham Borough Council has adopted a Deputation Scheme for all its committee meetings which form the Council's Committee Structure. The scheme allows anyone with a vested interested in the Council, e.g. living, working, studying or the owner of property or a business in the Borough to speak on a specific topic which falls within the Council's powers and functions. In the case of the Planning Committee the topic must relate to an item for discussion on the agenda for that meeting. This page outlines the guidelines and rules for speaking at a Planning Committee meeting.
Information about Planning Committee Meetings
Planning Committee meetings are held once a month and usually take place in the Collingwood Room attended by 9 Councillors. Further information about our Planning Committee meetings, including a full list of meetings dates can be found here: Planning Committee Meetings.
How to apply to make a deputation
You must formally apply to us in writing to submit a request to make a deputation. This must happen regardless of whether you wish to speak in person, or submit a written deputation.
If you are requesting to make a written deputation, please do not submit your written deputation at this stage. You will be contacted to confirm your request has been accepted, and at that point, advised further.
To lodge your request to make a deputation, this can be done via email, by post, completing a form at the Civic Offices or by completing this online form: Deputation Request.
We require the deputation request only to be submitted to Democratic Services by noon 3 working days before the meeting. For example, if the meeting is to be held on a Wednesday afternoon, your application to make a deputation must be received by noon on Friday the week before.
Please note:
- We will not be able to accept any submitted written deputations unless you have made a deputation request first, and this has been confirmed.
- You must ensure that your written deputation does not contain personal or sensitive data as this may prevent your deputation from being accepted and published.
Guidelines for making deputation to Planning Committee
Deputations can be made in person, or as a written statement which will be published alongside the meetings agenda and circulated to members of the Planning Committee prior to the meeting.
If you would like to make a deputation at a Planning Committee meeting you may do so on any item on the agenda, but we ask that you adhere to a few ground rules:
Supporting material:
If you have written or photographic material that you wish to accompany your deputation, please notify the Committee team prior to the meeting. No written material can be distributed at the meeting itself but can be circulated to Members in advance. Photographs can be distributed at the meeting; please advise the Committee Officer of this on your arrival. Supporting information will be distributed to members of the Committee at the discretion of the Assistant Director (Democracy), and the Council cannot guarantee that all Members will have noted this information. Information submitted as supporting information should be brief and accompany your deputation. It cannot be used as an extension to your deputation time or word count.
Please note: Supporting information will not be published with written deputations.
Time allocated to speak:
- The maximum time an individual person will be allocated to speak on an item will be 3 minutes; this is the equivalent to 400 words if your deputation is in writing. Depending on the number of people wanting to speak on the item, this time may be reduced and the word count will be reduced accordingly. Details of how your time may be affected can be found in the Council's Constitution at the following link at Appendix Two: Council's constitution
(524 KB). A member of the Democratic Services Team will be happy to discuss this further with you if you have any questions. - If more than 2 deputations are received about the same item, you will be actively encouraged to contact other deputees to appoint a single spokesperson to present the deputation on behalf of those who share similar views.
- Amenity groups will have their time allocated separately. The Council holds a list of designated amenity groups as per below:
- Burridge & Swanwick Residents Association
- Fareham Society
- Hill Head Residents Association
- Portchester Society
- Portchester Civic Society
- Sarisbury & Lower Swanwick Residents Association
- Titchfield Village Trust
- Wallington Village Community Association
- Warsash Residents Association
- Catisfield Village Association
- Funtley Village Society
- Fareham Beach Hut Association
- Titchfield Neighbourhood Forum
- For any deputations made to Planning Committee for which the topic does not fall under the 'planning application and miscellaneous matters including an update on planning appeals' part of the agenda, 5 minutes for deputations is allocated for each item.
- In order to confirm the time that you have been allocated to speak, please contact the Democratic Services team on 01329 824594 or email democraticservices@fareham.gov.uk after the deadline for deputations has passed.
Attending the Meeting
We ask that everyone attending a Planning Committee arrives 15 minutes before the start of the meeting. People attending to give a deputation may be asked to arrive earlier than this. Planning Committee agendas are split into Zones (areas of the Borough). On occasion, different Zones may have different start times. The Democratic Services team will be able to provide you with this information.
When you arrive at the meeting venue you will be directed to floor 8 where the meeting will take place. You may be asked to wait in a waiting room until the start of the meeting. A member of the Democratic Services Team will be there to greet you and explain the procedure, including how to use the microphone.
Copies of the meetings agenda and a list of deputations will be made available, either in the waiting room or the meeting room itself.
Each application will be dealt with in this order:
- The Planning Officer introduces the application
- Deputations are then heard
- If any Councillors wish to deliver a representation they will then be heard
- The Committee will then deliberate and put questions to officers for clarification before making their decision
- When the Chairman considers that there has been sufficient debate, the Planning Committee will vote for a decision
- The Chairman will invite you to the deputation table to address the Committee. Move forward to the chair and you will told by the Chairman when to begin your deputation. Please note that you will be addressing the Committee directly (this is not a question and answer forum) and you will be stopped at the end of your allotted time.
- Through the Chairman, when appropriate, Members of the Planning Committee may ask deputees, applicants and agents to clarify aspects of proposals or comments they have made when applications are formally considered.
When the decision has been announced you may leave the meeting room or remain there for the rest of the meeting.
We ask that anyone making a deputation respects these rules and conducts themselves in an appropriate manner. Our meetings are held in public and our officers must ensure that meetings are run in a fair and just way for the benefit of everyone in attendance.
Making the most of your deputation
It is important to remember that the Planning Committee can only consider certain criteria when deciding a planning application. To help you make the most of the time you have allocated to speak, we have provided details below of what can and cannot be taken into account.
| Matters that can be considered | Matters that cannot be considered |
|---|---|
| Matters that are contrary to structure or local plan | Devalue property or cause the loss of a private view |
| Highway safety and traffic impact, inadequate parking | Breach of covenant in a private contract |
| Not in accordance with government policy | Applicant does not own the land |
| Servicing or turning space provided | Boundary disputes |
| Harmful to conservation area or listed building | Local opposition i.e. vandalism, over-population |
| Overdevelopment or excessive development | Matters covered by other legislation e.g. alcohol licensing |
| Overlooking or loss of privacy or other residential amenity | Objections raised on moral, racial, or religious views |
| Visually intrusive or overbearing | Personal views about the applicant |
| Poor external design, appearance or layout | Already too many other similar uses |
| Loss of fine trees seen from public spaces | |
| Likelihood of excessive or late night noise, dust and/or smell | |
| Conflict with Nature Conservation criteria for the area. |
The rules of our deputation scheme are bound by the Council's Constitution, which can be found by following this link: Constitution (524 KB).
The Council's Committee Officers are available to discuss any aspect of the deputation process. We understand how potentially daunting giving a deputation can be so we are here to help. If you have any queries or require any further clarification then please call our Democratic Services on 01329 824581 or email democraticservices@fareham.gov.uk.