SCI Regulation 28 Statement of Consultation - Scarborough ...

Question 5: Does the SCI demonstrate clearly how the results of the community
involvement will shape future Local Development Documents?
Number of Responses
Of those who replied Yes or No
Yes No No Response %age Yes %age No
19 (37.3%) 4 (7.8%) 28 (54.9%) 82.6% 17.4%
Question 6: Does the SCI clearly describe how the Council will consult the
community on planning applications?
Number of Responses
Of those who replied Yes or No
Yes No No Response %age Yes %age No
18 (35.3%) 1 (2%) 32 (62.7%) 94.7% 5.3%
3.2.2 When analysing the above it is clear that question 2: ‘Is the document easy to read and
understand’ caused the most concern. Although the majority of those who answered
the question agreed that it was acceptable, almost a third stated it was not easy to read.
Additionally, comments received concluded that whilst this is a technical document
and a level of jargon is unavoidable, the document could be easier to read.
3.2.3 Other areas of concern included:
‣ Pre-application Community Engagement
‣ Versions of documents should be produced in other languages / formats.
‣ How comments will shape Local Development Documents.
(a)
Readability of SCI
3.2.4 Whilst the majority of respondents agreed that the document was accessible, a
significant number stated that the document was difficult to read, excessive in length
and contained a degree of ‘jargon’. It is accepted that as the document is of a technical
nature there are issues over the readability of the document. In particular, the level of
‘jargon’ and acronyms is an unfortunate result of the revised planning system which
has only led to a greater use of abbreviations (e.g. SCI, LDD, LDF, LDS, etc). To
combat this issue a glossary of terms and explanation of acronyms / abbreviations will
be included in the Submission SCI. In addition and following adoption of the SCI, the
Council will produce a leaflet summarising the main points of the SCI and how the
public can become involved in the planning system.
(b)
Pre-application Community Engagement
3.2.5 The draft SCI confirmed the intention of the Development Control section to produce
two protocol documents; the “Major Applications Protocol” and the “Pre-Application
Community Engagement Statement”. The intention of the latter of these is to provide
guidance to developers and identify the types of proposal where pre-application
community involvement will be encouraged. This may relate to the size of the
development site or its potential to impact on the local community.
3.2.6 The statement will advise developers on the methods of community engagement
relevant to the type of proposal. In cases where pre-application engagement is
considered necessary, developers will be expected to submit with their application a
statement of what action they have taken to involve the local community.
3.2.7 Whilst this proposed document was welcomed by both developers and the
community, some concerns were raised by a number of developers relating to the
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