WATFORD BOROUGH COUNCIL
Statement of Community Involvement - Consultation Statement
1. Introduction
1.1 Watford Borough Council has prepared a new Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). The SCI sets out out how the council will involve communities, local businesses and other stakeholders in the planning process. It will guide our approach to stakeholder engagement with the Local Plan and other planning policy documents, neighbourhood plans and development management decisions.
1.2 This consultation statement sets out the following information:
i. The persons the local planning authority consulted when preparing the SCI; ii. The methods used to consult on the document; iii. A summary of the main issues raised by those persons; and iv. How those issues have been addressed in the SCI
2. Formal Consultation on the draft SCI
2.1 Public consultation of the draft SCI took place from Friday 19th July to Friday 13th September 2019. The consultation ran for 8 weeks instead of 6 to account for the summer holidays and to ensure that everybody had sufficient opportunity to participate in the consultation. A press notice was published in the Watford Observer on 19th July 2019 to notify the public of the consultation.
2.2 The document was uploaded for comment onto the Planning department’s bespoke consultation software. The webpage provided information about how comments could be made and the deadline for making representations. A copy of the draft document was also placed in the Town Hall reception for viewing.
2.3 Details about the consultation were uploaded onto the council’s main website and also the Local Plan website. Information was provided about what was being consulted on, where the document could be viewed and how and when comments could be made.
2.4 Emails were also sent to all those on the council’s Planning Policy consultation database, including to statutory consultation bodies. The list of statutory and general consultation bodies who were consulted are listed in Appendix A.
3. Issues Raised in the Consultation
3.1 Appendix B identifies the responses received, the key issues identified by the named consultees and how the council addressed these issues.
Appendix A - Statutory and General Consultation Bodies (Organisations) Consulted
Abbots Langley Parish Council London Borough of Hillingdon
Affinity Water National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups
Aldenham Parish Council NHS England
Broxbourne Borough Council Marine Management Organisation
Cadentgas National Grid
Campaign for Real Ale Natural England
Centrica Network Rail
Chiltern District Council Office of Rail Regulation
Civil Aviation Authority One YMCA
Croxley Green Parish Council RSPB
Dacorum Borough Council St Albans District Council
Defence Infrastructure Organisation Stevenage Borough Council
Department of Transport Thames Water
English, Welsh and Scottish Railways Ltd. The Coal Authority
Environment Agency The Theatres Trust
Friends of the Earth Three Rivers District Council
Greater London Authority Transport for London
Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust UK Power Networks
Hertfordshire Constabulary Vodafone and O2
Hertfordshire County Council Watford Community Housing Trust
Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service Watford Museum
Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership Watford Rural Parish Council
Hertsmere Borough Council Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group WENTA
Highways England West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust
Historic England West Watford Community Association
Homes and Communities Agency
Homes England
London Borough of Barnet
London Borough of Harrow Appendix B - Summary of issues raised in the consultation and how they have been addressed
The total number of submissions: 3
Name Organisation Summary How addressed Richard Carr Transport for London Supports Transport for London’s inclusion in the Comments noted - no document as a Duty to Cooperate organisation change to document required Jacqui Salt Natural England Natural England supports early engagement in the Comments noted - no planning process but otherwise has no comments on change to document the document required Martin Wells Hertfordshire County Council No specific comment Comments noted - no change to document required