Planning & Highways Committee

The Planning committee is the longest standing committee of the council however it has recently also taken on the remit of the HIghways and Footpaths Working Party to become the Planning and Highways Committee.  It considers all planning applications for work in the village with the exception of major developments which would be dealt with by the parish council as a whole.  The Planning committee meets fortnightly to deal with planning applications as there are generally tight deadlines.  The Kessingland Parish Council Planning committee does not make planning decisions but is a consultee to the district council, East Suffolk Council, who actually make the decisions.  Other consultees can include the water and drainage companies, the fire service, the police, environment health etc, and the public.  In fact the public actually have two chances to be involved in the planning process as they can submit views to both the parish and district planning processes.

Councillors cannot simply decide if they like or dislike a planning application, their decisions or recommendation have to take into account planning law and national guidelines, any locally approved planning policies and the public's opinions.  Locally there are two very key planning policies which affect planning decisions which are East Suffolk's Local Plan and Kessingland's Neighbourhood Plan.  Both of these went through lengthy consultation periods before approval.  In the case of the Neighbourhood Plan it was actually approved by a referendum of parish residents.

The Kessingland Neighbourhood Plan can be viewed by clicking here.

Since passing a Climate Change Emergency policy the council also considers environmental issues when considering planning applications.

In addition to its planning work the committee also meets four times a year to consider matters relating to Highways and Footpaths.  This meeting also includes the Suffolk County Council councillor for Kessingland, Cllr Michael Ladd and a representative of the SCC Highways Department.  As well as raising and keeping track of issues within the village, it also is tasked with developing a Cycle Strategy and an Assessibilty Audit for the parish.

The councillors on the Planning committee are: Cllr Sam Auger-Forbes, Cllr David Wright, Cllr Martin Dunne (Chair), Cllr Ian Graham, Cllr Alan Green (Vice-Chair) and Cllr Bob Saunders.

The Terms of Reference for the committee can be read by clicking here.

The agendas and minutes can be read by clicking on the appropriate links in the navigation boxes on the left of this page.

Planning application can be viewed by going to the East Suffolk website and following the links to the planning department or by clicking here.  You can also check out other planning information at the East Suffolk website Planning pages such as building control and planning advice and guidance, information on Tree Preservation Orders, major planning applications within the area, conservation and street naming and numbering.  This is also where you would go it you wanted to change the name of your house.

The Kessingland Planning committee also looks at consultations on planning, development or other matters which might affect the parish on behalf of the council.