When the Council makes decisions on planning applications, the majority of applications are made by officers under ‘delegated authority’ – only those applications with the greatest public interest tend to be decided by the councillors who sit on the Council’s Planning Committee. The Council’s Constitution sets out how those applications are chosen.
The agenda for the Planning Committee is published on the Council’s website five working days before the meeting. The majority of Planning Committee meetings are held on Thursdays, so the agenda is typically published on Wednesdays.
You can find out if an application that you are interested in will be decided by the Planning Committee by registering to ‘track’ the application on the Council’s Planning Public Access website.
What happens at the Planning Committee?
The agenda for the meeting will include a report for each of the planning applications that will be decided by Planning Committee. The report is prepared by the Council’s expert planning officers and summarises all of the matters that are relevant to deciding the application. The report will weigh up the facts and recommend whether planning permission should be approved or refused.
Planning Committee meetings are usually held at 6 pm in the Council Chamber Municipal Building in Huyton Village Town Centre and are ‘live streamed’ on the Council’s website. The meetings are undertaken in accordance with the following procedure:
- The Chairperson introduces the application.
- A Planning Officer will make a short presentation to members of the Planning Committee based on the agenda report.
- Members of the public who have registered to speak against the proposed development are invited to address the committee.
- A Planning Officer gives points of clarification on the matters raised.
- Committee members ask Officers any questions about the objector’s presentation (if Officers are unable to answer, the speaker will be invited to respond, followed by further clarification if required).
- Members of the public who have registered to speak in favour of the proposed development are invited to address the committee.
- A Planning Officer gives points of clarification on the matters raised.
- Committee members ask Officers any questions about the supporter’s presentation (if Officers are unable to answer the speaker will be invited to respond, followed by further clarification if required)
- If they have registered to speak, the applicant or their representative is invited to address the committee.
- A Planning Officer gives points of clarification on the matters raised.
- Committee members ask Officers any questions about the presentation (if Officers are unable to answer, the speaker will be invited to respond, followed by further clarification if required).
- The Planning Committee debates the application and asks officers questions.
- The Planning Committee moves to approve or refuse the application, and a vote is taken.
- The chairperson informs the meeting of the decision.
Can I speak at a Planning Committee meeting?
Meetings of the Planning Committee take part in the Council Chamber in the Municipal Building in Huyton Village Town Centre and are ‘live streamed’ on the Council’s website.
The meetings are public, so members of the public can attend and listen to the debate. However, they cannot speak at the meeting unless they have registered to do so.
Anybody can register to speak at the Planning Committee, but you must register to do so by 12 pm the day before the meeting by emailing planning.speaking@knowsley.gov.uk with the following information:
- Your name, address and telephone number.
- Application number and details of the relevant application.
- Whether you support or oppose the application.
- If you are happy for your details to be shared with others who register the same request to speak. This will enable you to arrange who speaks and for how long.
- Whether you are nominating anybody to speak on your behalf. If so, you need to provide their name and contact details.
You must provide the details listed above. Please do not seek to use this as an opportunity to restate or add to your representations already made to Planning Services.
You can contact Democratic Services on 0151 443 3582 before the 12 pm deadline to make sure they have received your request. You should allow enough time to comply with the procedure in the event that they have not received your request.
If an item is deferred you must register your request to speak again, requests to speak will not be ‘carried over’.
You should arrive at the committee meeting at least 15 minutes before it starts and alert the Committee Clerk of your presence.
What matters can I raise?
The Planning Committee can only consider certain matters, which are called ‘material planning considerations’. In order to make the best use of your time, you should ensure that your presentation does not include matters that are not material planning considerations.
If your presentation includes ‘non-material’ matters, Council Officers will tell the Planning Committee that they must not consider them when deciding the application. There is not an exhaustive list of what are and aren’t material planning considerations, but the Planning Portal sets out some common matters.
Impacts on house prices, loss of a view, the character of an applicant, competition, restrictive covenants, boundary disputes, private rights of access, matters controlled under separate legislation (such as Building Regulations, Environmental Permits etc) are not material considerations.
How long will I have to speak?
The Council allows public speakers a minimum of 3 minutes; however, for those applications that have generated the most public interest, more time is allocated as set out in the table below (the Chairperson may agree to an extension of speaking times if there are exceptional circumstances).
| Fewer than 50 representations** | 51 - 200 representations** | 201 or more representations** | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applicant | 3 minutes | 5 minutes | 8 minutes |
| Ward Councillors | 3 minutes | 5 minutes | 8 minutes |
| Public Objectors | 3 minutes | 5 minutes | 8 minutes |
| Public Supporters | 3 minutes | 5 Minutes | 8 minutes |
** A representation is defined as an individual letter (not a circular style letter or petition).
Speaking time is evenly distributed between the speakers in each of the categories (e.g. if there are 3 public objectors, they will each be given 1 minute to speak). However, the number of public speakers in each category is capped, so no one person has less than 1 minute to address the committee (i.e. if objectors have 3/5/8 minutes available, only 3/5/8 people can speak in objection to an application). In order to make the best use of the committee’s time, no speaker will be allocated more than 3 minutes.
If the number of people registered exceeds the number of slots, then the registered speakers will be given the opportunity to elect a spokesperson. In the unlikely event that they are unable or unwilling to do so, the Committee’s Clerk will draw names from a hat.