Statement of Community Involvement
1 Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 The aim of the Horsham District Council Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) is to ensure that the community is genuinely involved in the production of Local Development Framework (LDF) documents and to strengthen community involvement in planning and development in the District over time.
1.2 The Council has a long history of involving local communities and organisations in planning and other Council matters. A number of consultation documents have been produced in the last few years and the Council has undertaken successful and well attended exhibitions throughout the District on a range of issues. The Council continues to work closely with local communities in the production of Parish Appraisals, Parish Plan and Design Statements. The Council has in the past held 'Developer Days' to give developers the opportunity to present their proposals for potential housing development sites in the District, this may be an appropriate process to use again in the future. The Council continues to work with many local organisations which have specific interests. People responding to the Council's consultations have mainly been established/adult members of the community and local amenity organisations, as well as statutory organisations such as the Environment Agency. However, there are also some groups in the community that rarely respond to consultations such as young people and the business community.
1.3 A new planning system (Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004) has been introduced which gives the Council the opportunity to formalise many of the arrangements and processes it has used over the past few years and to build on these to try and reach all sections of the community. The information contained within the SCI shows what we are doing over and above the minimum required by Government. However, the SCI is not intended to be a detailed discussion on the different methods the Council will use to involve people, it is intended to provide information on the key principles we will use. It contains information on things the Council are already doing to involve the community and what further work we will be undertaking.
1.4 The SCI provides information on the 2004 planning system and the documents which will be produced as part of the 2004 system. The SCI sets out how the Council will work with partner organisations and interested parties ('stakeholders') and the community in the production of LDF documents. The Statement also outlines how consultation and involvement processes happen within the Council. It outlines the arrangements for monitoring, the resources to be used and how the Council will feedback to the community. It sets out the role of the Council and applicants in community involvement in planning.
1.5 The SCI enforces the importance of the Council's active approach to community involvement in planning, including the value we place on the contributions from a wide range of people within the community, whatever form this may take - ranging from formal comments to people providing us with opinions and insights and their expertise. Community and stakeholder involvement will take place on particular issues or on a site by site basis as well as continuing with more widespread involvement and consultation on documents of a more general nature. There are a large number of individuals and organisations who have an interest in a number of topics and copies of documents and information will be made easily accessible to allow the opportunity to comment on them.
1.6 The SCI will assist the Council and the community in working towards achieving as much agreement as is possible on development proposals and contentious planning issues. Whilst it will not always be possible to achieve agreement on all matters, the use of the methods outlined in the SCI should ensure that as wide a range of views as possible are taken into account, which will assist the Council in the formal decision making process.
1.7 The SCI sets out realistic ways in which the Council can achieve community involvement when taking into account the Council's available resources and making the best use of existing methods wherever possible.
1.8 The SCI will also assist the Council to work towards eliminating unlawful racial discrimination, promoting equal opportunities and good race relations and involve different racial groups (Race Relations Act) in planning matters. It also aims to increase the involvement of people with disabilities in planning at an early stage (Disability Discrimination Act 1995).
1.9 The SCI will be monitored annually at the end of each year, which will allow it to be updated if necessary where there are changes in circumstances.
1.10 In working towards the production of the Statement of Community Involvement, the Council has worked with other local authorities within West Sussex including the County Council and has sought information from organisations and societies on how, when and what issues they would like to get involved with.
Components of the Local Development Framework
