Material Planning Considerations

What are material considerations?

When considering comments on an application only material considerations can be taken into account. The following list is not exhaustive but it gives an idea of the sort of things that would be classed as a material planning consideration:

• Car parking provision;
• Design, including appearance, layout, scale, density and materials;
• Highway safety issues and/or traffic generation;
• Impact on important trees;
• Impact on the character or appearance of a Conservation Area or a Listed Building;
• Local drainage or flooding issues;
• Planning policies and guidance;
• Loss of important open spaces or community facilities;
• Noise disturbance, smells, obtrusive lighting or other impacts on amenity;
• Overdominance, overshadowing and loss of light;
• Proposed landscaping;
• The planning history of a site.

Comments that are not material planning considerations will not be taken into account. Examples of what is not considered a material planning consideration could be:

• Loss of property value;
• Loss of a view;
• Issues of market competition;
• Issues relating to land ownership/property boundaries, including the need to access land to undertake development;
• Matters covered by other legislation, including restrictive covenants on land;
• Impact on private drainage systems;
• Moral or religious issues;
• Issues relating to the construction of a development;
• The reasons why a developer is making the application, or their activities elsewhere;
• Inappropriate or personal comments.