Somerset Council are seeking views on updates to the Local Validation Checklist for the West area and Mineral and Waste proposals.

Local Validation Checklists (LVC) help inform applicants/agents of the type of documents and level of information required to validate a planning application or other similar consents. Somerset Council is committed to providing a professional and efficient Development Management service and this document is part of a suite of documents that will help all potential applicants to prepare their submissions and ensure they can be validated and determined as swiftly as possible.

Each of the former Planning Authorities in Somerset has in place a Local Validation Checklist (LVC). Each of these was adopted at a different time and reflects the Local Plan for that area or specialism. Whilst a new Local Plan for Somerset is under preparation and we have different adopted policy documents in each of the areas we are not yet in a position to have a single LVC for the whole authority area.

It is therefore necessary to ensure that the checklists that we do have are compliant with legislation and updated accordingly. Therefore, we are consulting specifically on the LVCs for Area West and Mineral and Waste proposals, as these were adopted more than two years ago. Others will be updated in due course.

In line with National Guidance and the Council’s adopted Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), public consultation is necessary during production of these documents and the outcomes of that consultation need to inform the final document.

The purpose of the consultation is:

• To seek views from planning applicants, agents, developers, etc. on our proposed documents and to take these views into account before adopting the final document.
• To publish for use by planning applicants, agents, developers, etc. for the submission of valid planning applications in these areas.
• To adopt the LVC as a material planning consideration.

See the consultation platform for the Checklists that are being consulted on:
https://somersetcouncil.citizenspace.com/planning/local-validation-checklist

The consultation runs for six weeks from Wednesday 31st January 2024 to Wednesday 13th March 2024.