Scrutiny of Planning Applications
Dover District Council are responsible for processing and determination of all Planning Applications in the Parish of Whitfield.
As Statutory Consultees, the Parish Council is informed of all applications within the Parish, which are then dealt with by the Parish Planning Committee. Committee Members look at each application to consider if it complies with planning guidance and the Parish’s Policy on Planning and Development . The Members normally meet once a month to discuss each application and send any comments they may have to DDC which should then be taken into account by DDC’s Planning Department and Planning Committee when reaching a decision.
As well as reviewing each application, the members of the Planning Committee go to the site and may also visit neighbours and nearby Residents who may be affected by an application to make them aware of the application and to tell them how to submit their own personal comment to DDC.
Rather than calling in person, they may put a Calling slip through the door with details of the application and how to view it.
While the Parish Council encourage you to submit any comments you may have, the Council cannot become involved in individual cases.
The Parish Council policy on Planning and Development is that the Quality of Life in Whitfield, Semi-Rural Character and Residential Amenity should be protected from over development, and must be accompanied by adequate and timely, provision of all the necessary Infrastructure, Community and Social Services and Utilities to support any such development. The Parish Council is generally opposed to infil and back garden development in the existing Village, although each application will be assessed on its own merit.
Whitfield has been designated by DDC’s Core Strategy to have major development of 5,750 new dwellings over the next 20 years or so, the details of which are contained within the Whitfield SPD, so it is important that the existing settlement is protected from over development.
Posts on the Planning Pages contain Parish Council Comments and the details and documents of major planning applications which may have significant impact on Whitfield as a whole.
