The Parish Council has recently been advised by Chelmsford City Council that there will be a change as to how residents will be advised of planning applications close to their properties.
In the past letters were sent to residents in the near vicinity of a property where an application had been submitted but this will no longer happen. The City Council advises as follows –
Up until now we have been notifying neighbours of new planning applications by sending out letters in the post. This method of notification has become out of date following significant advances in technology and relies heavily on the postal service. Many people receive letters that they are simply not interested in and some people, who may be interested in a development but live further away, would not receive letters.
Following agreement from our Councillors we will no longer be sending out letters in the post to the people that live next to an application site. We will display yellow site notices close to application sites to inform local residents, and we are encouraging all residents who want to be notified automatically to use the Council’s Public Access system to sign up for email notifications about applications they are interested in. This allows people to set their own criteria for applications they wish to be notified about using the saved search function.
Guidance on how to save searches and receive email notification is on our website https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/view-or-comment-on-planning-applications/