Reply To: Planning Committee Reports

Thanks Nigel; the point about Viability refers to those instances where the council seeks independent verification of a report submitted by the applicant.

This may happen, for example, if the applicant has submitted a report demonstrating how the proposed development would not be viable if the statutory affordable housing element were to be included.

The applicants report would include calculations and valuations to justify the claim. This report, and the name of the author, would not be public domain for commercial reasons.

The council would then appoint an independent consultant to verify or challenge those figures.

I think Richard is suggesting that the independent consultant should be named in the report.

Whether the council are legally obliged to do so is unclear to me, I think only a lawyer could answer that?

I’m also not clear what the purpose of this would be; a council is obliged to seek independent verification but, like the applicants original report, any review would not be public domain because of commercial sensitivities. This one is, I suspect, a dead end, but Richard may want to research further.