Local Planning

Planning decisions for Benson are made at the district level, so the responsibility lies with SODC’s planning officers.  However, in most cases, planning applications in our area are referred to Benson Parish Council to comment on and either object to or not.  The idea is that this is how local views on any planned development can be heard.

The Planning Committee in Benson takes this role seriously and meets regularly to consider applications as they are sent across – sometimes with a decision being required within days.  Councillors use their local knowledge if at all possible, or else go out and look at the site for themselves, before meeting and agreeing a group recommendation.  Benson’s existing Neighbourhood Plan is always a key consideration in making these decisions.

In most cases, the committee passes the application with ‘no objection’, but occasionally there are circumstances where a decision to ‘object’ is agreed.  SODC’s planning officers will then take this objection into account when considering the application, but the views of the parish councillors hold no special weight.  Even when the parish council has raised a strong objection to an application, it’s not unusual for it to be passed at district level.  In exceptional circumstances, it’s also possible for the parish to request that a particularly contentious application be reviewed with local district and parish councillors in attendance at SODC.

All Planning Committee meetings are open to the public and members of the community who are applying for permission to build are welcome to come along and state their case.  A list of recent applications in Benson can be found on the SODC web site here.  These will be the ones that Benson councillors are currently considering.  On this same SODC web site you can also search for older applications by date range.