Issue - meetings

Raised by Cllr Martin Robinson, Dunkerton Parish Council

Lisa Bartlett and Sarah Jefferies gave a presentation. A copy of their PowerPoint slides is attached as Appendix 2.

Parish Councillor Martin Robinson thanked Lisa and Sarah for their presentation. He urged those who had not done recently to visit the Council’s planning web pages. They were now clearer and easier to read and much more user friendly. He looked forward to the further agreed changes being progressively implemented.

In reply to comments made by delegates, Parish Cllr Rosemary Naish said that transparency grants were available through ALCA for the purchase of laptops, screens, projectors and the installation of a broadband connection. Grants were also available to pay broadband connection charges for a couple of years. Parishes which were interested in exploring the possibility of a grant should contact Deborah White at B&NES ALCA.

Dawn Drury (Chair, Compton Dando PC) asked why some applications are not appearing on the website within ½ a day of their notification email.  Sarah asked parishes to let Planning know when this happens. The web site updates twice a day, 12pm and 6pm Monday to Friday.  It is a data heavy process and takes about 30 to 45 minutes.  Because of this updates cannot take place more frequently, as otherwise the performance of the site would be degraded. A notification done at 9am for example will not show until after 12pm.  She believed that this was advised on the notification.

Mike Townley (Clerk, Batheaston PC) said that after opening a document on the website it was no longer possible to return to the documents list, because the ‘back arrow’ had gone.  Sarah replied that on the old planning pages documents used to open in the same window as the list, and so there was a back button. The new page opens the documents in a new tab, and it is possible to switch between pages by clicking on the tabs. You can also right click on a document link to open it in a new window, which will allow you to view two drawings side by side.

Cllr Karen Warrington said that where an applicant had no agent there were no contact details for an application, which could cause problems on site visits. She wondered whether the contact details for the applicant could be provided to the Ward Councillor and the parish. Sarah said that unfortunately this was not permitted by the Regulations.