Ask to speak at planning committee

Who can speak?

There is 9 minutes speaking time for each proposal. This is divided in the following order between:

Town or Parish Council - 3 minutes
Objectors - 3 minutes
Applicants, agents or supporters - 3 minutes    

Where more than 1 person wants to speak 1 spokesperson can be mutually agreed to speak. The time can be shared but having one statement addressing all objections is recommended. Time limits cannot be exceeded.
All parties wishing to address the Committee must register their intention to speak below by 5.pm on the day prior to the meeting. Objectors and supporters, other than the applicant or their agent, must live within the ward(s) of the relevant application under consideration or be directly affected by the proposed development - or have been asked to speak by someone who meets either of these criteria.  When registering to speak you must provide evidence of which of these criteria you are speaking under. In order to provide this evidence you will be contacted by us.

Planning committees are filmed and shown on this website. Other people may use phones and other equipment to record, film, tweet or blog from the meetings. We cannot control this.  Please note that your name will appear in the minutes of the meeting.

What can be said?

Planning committee considers:

• Major development applications
• Applications 'listed' by local councillors because of planning concerns

You can only speak about planning applications due to be determined at that meeting. Comments are restricted to views related to planning legislation. For example:

• Government guidance
• The Local Development Framework
• Noise, disturbance and smells resulting from proposed development
• Highway safety and traffic
• Design, appearance and layout
• Residential amenity
• Conservation of buildings, trees and open land
• Impact on the appearance of the area
• Effect on the level of daylight and privacy of existing property
• Safeguarding countryside or protected animal / plant species
• Planning case law and previous decisions
• Need for development
• Planning history of the site

Matters outside planning legislation cannot be taken into account including:

• Other laws apart from planning such as alcohol licensing or construction techniques
• Private property rights such as covenants
• The developer's identity, morals, motives or past record
• Effect on property value
• Trade objections based on competition
• Moral objections such as objection to gambling
• Loss of a view
• Inconvenience or problems caused by building works

How to speak

You can ask to speak by:

• Using the online speaking at planning committee form below
• Emailing democratic.services@wokingham.gov.uk

 
We need to know your name, address, daytime phone number, the planning application reference, the proposed development, whether you want to speak for or against,  if you will be presenting additional information.

Additional material like plans and photographs can be presented as a Powerpoint presentation. Email the presentation to democratic.services@wokingham.gov.uk and it will loaded onto a laptop ready for use at the meeting. Papers cannot be circulated during the meeting. Time spent using such material for explanatory purposes is included within the 3 minutes.

Requests to speak must be submitted by 5pm on the last working day before the planning committee.

Ask to speak