The West Lancashire Statement of Community
Involvement (SCI) was adopted by the Council with effect
from 17 July 2007.
In spring 2008, the government made changes to the planning
system which have altered the way we prepare our planning
documents. To deal with these changes, we inserted an
"addendum" into our SCI in January 2009.
Statements of Community Involvement - background
One of the major principles behind the new planning system is
community involvement. We encourage the public, local
organisations, businesses, and others with an interest in the area
to take part and have a say in preparing planning documents, and in
assessing planning applications.
The government requires every planning authority to produce a
Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). The SCI sets out whom the
authority will consult on planning issues, and what methods they
will use. It makes up part of the Local Plan. Government regulations
dictate how an SCI should be prepared. The process is complex,
and involves three rounds of consultation.
Preparing the West Lancashire SCI
Stage 1 - Initial consultation
West Lancashire Borough Council carried out its first stage
of SCI consultation in winter 2005/early 2006. We wrote to various
people, asking for their views on what should be included in the
SCI, and how they would like to be consulted.
Stage 2 - First draft
Using the feedback from stage one, we prepared a draft SCI and
consulted on it in autumn 2006. We received 45 comments, and made
changes to the SCI as a result. You can download the SCI
Pre-Submission Consultation Statement (Adobe PDF format, 277kb)
which summarises comments made, and the resulting
changes to the SCI.
Stage 3 - submission
The Council submitted the amended SCI to the Secretary of
State on 22 February 2007. For six weeks, we also consulted on
the document. In total, the Council received 17 comments on the
SCI, six of these considering it to be "unsound".
Stage 4 - examination
The Council forwarded all comments made about the "Submission SCI"
to the Secretary of State. An independent Inspector, Mr Keith
Holland, examined the SCI in spring 2007 and found the SCI to be
sound, subject to some minor changes.
Stage 5 - adoption
The Council's Cabinet considered a report in July 2007,
recommending that the SCI be adopted by the Council. The Council
adopted the SCI on 17 July 2007.
Next steps
Whenever the Council consults on planning documents, it must
meet the relevant standards set out in the SCI and its 2009
"Addendum". We will monitor how well we do this as part of our
Annual
Monitoring Report. Eventually, a new SCI will need to be
prepared, fully incorporating the 2008 changes to the planning
system.