Comments from community councils

Community councils have special status and consultation arrangements for comments.

Since April 1996, Community Councils have been regarded in planning legislation as a ‘statutory consultee’. They have very specific roles and responsibilities which are different to other such consultees, in that it is a two-way process. See the Scottish Government’s Planning Advice Note (PAN) 47 on ‘community councils and planning’. 

Weekly planning notifications

All community councils are sent a copy of the list of new planning applications received by us that week. This weekly list is sent by email to the nominated email address for each community council every Wednesday. 

This is the extent of the initial consultation from ourselves. It is then the responsibility of each community council to look at that list and identify any applications of interest within their area.

If there are any applications that raise community issues, the community councils then has to request a formal consultation by sending an email request to planning@dumgal.gov.uk within 7 working days of the list being sent out. 

Formal consultations

A formal consultation will then be sent out by email. Please note that no hard copy drawings will be sent out. The legislation only requires a 14-day consultation period but we allow 21 days. This can normally be slightly extended on request, in order to allow matters to be considered at a forthcoming community council meeting. 

The weekly list email is therefore your notification and the responsibility is on the community councils to then request a formal consultation (if required) within the appropriate timescale.

Obviously, for this process to work successfully, it is vital that we have the correct and current email addresses for each community councils. If you have not provided a contact email address, need to check who your current contact is or need to change an email address, please contact community.councils@dumgal.gov.uk as soon as possible.

Referals to the Planning Applications Committee

Any application which is the subject of an objection from a statutory consultee (which includes community councils) and which officers are minded to approve must be referred to the Planning Applications Committee for a decision. It cannot be determined by officers under delegated powers. 

You will be notified of the meeting date in advance and will have the opportunity to speak at the meeting before the application is determined.

All planning application drawings, forms and relevant correspondence are available to view online on the planning register.