There was planning training at Cornwall Council County Hall earlier this week. The presenters said that it was the largest audience they could remember and that's why they had to reconvene to the main chamber to accommodate all the parish councillors. They were happy with the interest it showed in their particular area of expertise but it reflects the importance of planning issues in Cornwall.
They covered the national perspectives and discussed the National Planning Policy Framework which came into effect last year. The Cornwall Council resources such as the online planning register were mentioned and a great deal of the regulations. They were quite careful in how they covered what was and was not a 'material consideration' for planning and rightly so since there is a wealth of regulations and case law to consider for each planning application. In practice it is the Government of the day's planning policy that is the most important material consideration.
The tone was, overall, quite honest about the complexities of planning but a little too academic perhaps for the audience. It could have benefited from some more of the basics such as the roles contained in the information on the planning website for parish councils.
There was some humour with a quiz of 'would you give this planning permission'. There was a slide of the (apparently) famous Headington Shark which would cause heated debate I'm sure if it presented itself to (the newly trained) Grampound with Creed's planning sub-committee.
Three Parish Councillors - Peter Wootton, Mark Taylor and myself attended .
