Elmbridge BC decided last year to stop Neighbourhood Notification letters that are sent out to nearby properties when a planning application is submitted. Instead they expect residents to rely on the yellow site notices put up on lampposts, etc and on the online planning alert system.

Whilst the key driver for this – to save £35k a year in costs – is laudable, there are concerns that not everyone is tech savvy; many are not aware of the planning alert emails; and site notices are not always seen by neighbours especially ones which back onto the property in question. We would have preferred a more hybrid approach to introduce this change more gradually.

There is a consultation on the document that describes this process – which has a rather obscure name of “Statement of Community Involvement”. The consultation finishes very soon at 4pm on Friday 23rd July. So if you have concerns about this approach then please do submit them online at Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) 2021 – Elmbridge Borough Council Consultations.

Don’t be put off that this refers to a 37 page document. The consultation itself is just a single question where you can write in your comments. The SCI document highlights changes in yellow – but beware that because the “Neighbourhood Notification letters” have been deleted, this is not obvious in the document.

There is another link in the consultation Why have we redrafted the Statement of Community Involvement? – Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) 2021, which explains a little more about the change.