Stratford-on-Avon District Council's Cabinet recommends revised Statement of Community Involvement for Council approval

On Monday 12 February, Stratford-on-Avon District Council's Cabinet recommended the revised Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) for Full Council approval.

The Statement of Community Involvement is a statutory document that all planning authorities are required to have in place.

The document explains how local communities, businesses and other interested parties can get involved in plan making and planning applications.

This SCI is a Local Development Document and once adopted will supersede the District Council's previously adopted SCI from October 2020.

The document underwent a public consultation from September to November 2023 and the results have been included in a revised draft which has now been approved by The Cabinet and will now be recommended for adoption by Full Council.

This updated SCI seeks to ensure that the temporary COVID-19 pandemic measures put in place are removed from the document and that the SCI is in line with national planning legislation and underpinning regulations.

The main changes to the SCI include:

• A paragraph to explain what the document means by stakeholders.
• A paragraph to clarify that the SCI is not just the Council's statement on how it will consult and engage on planning matters, but it will also be used to assess proposals for consultation/engagement by external bodies including for example developers and for designated bodies progressing Neighbourhood Development Plans.
• The removal of reference to Community Forums as there are no active Community Forums in the District.
• Additional text and hyperlink to the Council's Local List and the important role this list plays in ensuring the quality of planning application submissions.
• The replacement of "Large Development" with "Major Development" together with Major Development definition in Table 6 Part 2.
• A variety of minor amendments including new hyperlinks to reinforce linkages to supporting planning documentation, spelling and grammar amendments, paragraph spacing.
• A new context from the Stratford District Council Plan 2023-2027.

These amendments ensure that the SCI reflects the Council's priority to put people and communities at centre stage in the planning process.

Cllr George Cowcher, Portfolio Holder for Development said: "It is important to have this statement updated to reflect the engagement of local communities, businesses and the District Council regarding planning practice."