Addendum to the Statement of Community Involvement (Planning Policy)

Overview

The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) is a document which sets out how and when the council will consult with and involve the community and other stakeholders in planning matters including in the preparation of Lewisham's development plan, its supporting documents and in the planning application process. 

Since the SCI was adopted in 2006 there have been significant changes to the planning system.  These changes establish new legal requirements and processes for consulting with the public on planning matters including the preparation of planning policy documents that include, but are not limited to the Local Plan, Supplementary Planning Documents and Neighbourhood Plans. 

Following a review of the 2006 SCI, it is evident that updates are required to reflect the new legal requirements but also but also recognising opportunities and experiences with new methods of public engagement, such as the greater use of electronic forms of communication and social media.  This is particularly important in the context of COVID-19 and the latest government guidance on social distancing. 

Please note that this is a non-statutory consultation

Why your views matter

We would like to hear from members of the public and other stakeholders on whether or not they agree with the changes in the proposed addendum to the Lewisham SCI and to submit any comments they might have regarding these changes. 

Attached below you will find the;

• Addendum to the SCI

The proposed addendum to the SCI is the document that we are asking members of the public and other stakeholders to agree or comment on. It will be used for all future planning policy consultations. 

Once approved this addendum will permanently supersede sections 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 and appendices 1, 2 and 3 of the current SCI (2006) 

• Lewisham's current SCI (2006) 

The Lewisham SCI is the document currently used by the council when a planning policy documents are being consulted on

• Key changes document

The Key Changes document provides an overview of the factual changes that have been made in the addendum and why those changes have been made

This addendum is primarily focused on amendments required for preparing planning policy documents and does not include the emergency temporary modifications made by the Council to the current SCI relating to planning applications or development management. 

Emergency temporary modifications to the Council’s SCI focusing on Planning Applications were agreed by Mayor and Cabinet on 10th June 2020 and then extended by Mayor and Cabinet on the 16^th September 2020 in order to enable the determination of planning applications during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Any comments submitted to this consultation regarding the interim SCI on planning applications will not be considered. 

This consultation is entirely ‘optional’ and you do not need to participate unless you choose to. Your personal information will only be viewed by members of the Strategic Planning team at London Borough of Lewisham, and will not be shared with any third party. Your details are required to authenticate your representation.

By submitting your contact details to this consultation, you are consenting to be added to the Strategic Planning team's consultation data base, and may be contacted regarding future Strategic Planning consultations. The Strategic Planning database is retained and managed by the Strategic Planning team only, and we will not transfer any data to another territory outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). We will hold this data for a maximum of five years, unless you request for it to be removed from our consultation database sooner.

If at any point you wish to be removed from our database, then please contact planning.policy@lewisham.gov.uk.

What happens next

All responses will be anaylised by council officers and any recommended changes to be made before the addendum SCI is sent to Mayor and Cabinet to be agreed on 9th December 2020.