West Planning Area Surgery Appointments – 11:30 -12.45 am

The Role of Town & Parish Councillor Surgeries

Aim:

• To provide Town & Parish Councils with a means discussing planning issues in their role as Statutory Consultees.
• To allow Town & Parish Council representatives to build up a better knowledge of planning, to permit them to confidently perform their roles as Statutory Consultees and act as advocates for the planning service.
• To increase visibility of officers and allow relationship building.
• To be a positive move in communications and a means to removing unnecessary or protracted e-mail communication on applications which could be better dealt with in a discussion with the relevant Team Leader/case officer at a surgery session.

Operation:

One bi-weekly surgery session per Planning Committee Area (north, central, east, south and west). This consists of three 20 minute slots; depending on demand this will be limited to 1 per Town or Parish Council.

The sessions would cover issues related to Development Management, Planning Enforcement and Planning Policy.

They will each be led by a Development Management Team Leader or an appointed deputy.

Team Leaders can deputise to a Principal Planner or a Senior if appropriate.

The surgeries will be reviewed after 3 and 6 months, to collate Town & Parish Council feedback and assess the resource implications.

It should be noted and recognised that Town & Parish Councils should not use this forum to put pressure on officers for a particular recommendation or decision and should not do anything which compromises the officer’s impartiality or professional integrity.  If discussions are considered to be of this nature, the Team Leader has authority to end the Surgery.

The surgery should not be used as a way to bypass discretionary paid for services, such as the planning advice service.

Process:

Town & Parish Councils nominated Representative will email the member liaison inbox memberliaison@buckinghamshire.gov.uk   to request to book a 20-minute slot specifying the matter they wish to discuss.

• To book a 20-minute surgery slot. You can email the completed request form to the member liaison inbox memberliaison@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

(link to request form: Member and Parish Surgery Request Form v3.docx)

• The completed request form must be submitted at least two working days prior to the requested Surgery date.
• The Planning Member & Parish Liaison Officers will coordinate the agenda and liaise with the relevant Team Leaders and agree officer attendee list
• The Planning Member & Parish Liaison Officers will then send out links/time slots for sessions, which will be held virtually via MS Teams
• The Planning Member & Parish Liaison Officer will manage the meeting and log any follow-on actions.
• A meeting summary of each item will be compiled and circulated to all attendees.

Attendees:

The relevant Development Management, Policy or Enforcement Team Leaders (or deputies) will attend the surgeries and will bring relevant officers as appropriate, depending on the cases being discussed.  The surgeries can be booked and attended by a designated representative of a Town or Parish council (i.e. chairman/clerk/planning chairman) in their role as a statutory consultee on planning applications.