Customer Charter for Planning Policy Service

This Charter is intended to provide you with a clear understanding of what level of service you may expect from the Planning Policy section.

Background

The Council's policies and proposals for the use of land within the County Borough are set out in the Development Plan. The Plan allocates land for new development and establishes the policy framework for determining applications for planning permission. At present, the Development Plan comprises of the Wrexham Maelor and Glyndwr Local Plans together with the Clwyd Structure Plan First Alteration. However, these will soon be replaced by a new single document - the Wrexham Unitary Development Plan - which will cover the period to 2011.

The Council also publishes informal Local Planning Guidance Notes which explain in more detail how the policies contained in the Development Plan will be applied. These guidance notes are intended to help potential developers by clarifying the approach which the Council will take towards dealing with particular proposals.

Aims

We aim to ensure that:-

• There is always an up to date Development Plan in force for all parts of the County Borough.
• Whenever the Plan is being reviewed, individuals and organisations who are interested in the development of land are able to participate effectively in the preparation process.
• The Development Plan, Local Planning Guidance Notes and other related documents are produced in a clear, concise and easy to use style and are regularly updated.
• Reference copies of the Development Plan and related documents are made available for inspection at convenient locations throughout the County Borough, such as libraries.
• Information about the Development Plan preparation process can easily be obtained and enquiries dealt with speedily and efficiently.

Involving you in preparing the Development Plan

There are certain statutory procedures which the Council must follow when preparing or reviewing the Development Plan. These include advertising the main stages of the process in local newspapers and ensuring that a minimum period of six weeks is set aside for submitting comments and objections.

However, in order to involve as wide a range of people and organisations as possible and to ensure that they can make effective contributions to the preparation of the Plan, we will also:-

• Keep a mailing list so that everyone who expresses an interest in the Plan preparation process can be kept informed of progress
• Publish and distribute information updates if any periods between the stages of plan preparation exceed six months
• Acknowledge letters within 5 working days and follow up any points requiring clarification within 15 working days.
• Ensure that each draft of the Plan and any accompanying documents are available for inspection at a range of locations
• Publish reports at each of the formal plan preparation stages summarising all the views received and setting out the Council's responses
• Include information about the plan preparation process on the Council's website - www.wrexham.gov.uk

Local Planning Guidance Notes

We will:-

• Publish draft versions of any new or revised Planning Guidance Notes and give interested parties at least six weeks to submit observations.
• All comments we receive will be carefully considered and, where appropriate, amendments will be made to the Notes before final versions are issued.

Help and Advice

We will:-

• Do our best to give you the information you need in response to your telephone enquiries. However, we will sometimes need to make further investigations before we can give a complete answer. On these occasions, we will return your call within 1 working day or, if a written reply is needed, we will send you a letter within 15 working days.
• The staff on duty at the Planning Department's Reception are able to deal with most general enquiries about the Development Plan and other related matters. However, if you need to discuss something in more detail, it is better to make an appointment. We will try and meet any requests for a meeting within one week.

Complaints:-

If you are unhappy with our service, we have a three-stage procedure which you can use to make a complaint.

Stage One

Contact our staff directly to see if they can resolve your concerns

Stage Two

Contact Wendy Drendel - the Customer Liaison Officer for Planning Tel: 01978 292415

Stage Three

Contact the Council's Director of Corporate Services Tel: 01978 292201

How to Contact Us

Telephone 01978 292013 (direct line to the Planning Policy Section)

E-mail planning@wrexham.gov.uk

Letter Chief Planning Officer, Lambpit Street, PO Box 1290, Wrexham, LL11 1WL

Fax 01978 292502

In person The Planning Department is on the second floor of the Council's Lambpit Street offices. Access is available by ramp/lift. A hearing loop system is available.

Our opening hours are:-

Monday to Thursday 8.45 am to 5.15 pm

Friday 8.45 am to 4.45 pm

Special arrangements may be made with individual officers for meetings outside these hours on request.

Planning Department, April 2002

Planning Policy

Customer Charter index

Key Planning Documents