Once a planning application has been received, the planning authority, MCC, will normally post a planning notice in the area of the proposed development and/or write to nearby residents to inform them of the application in a form of a neighbour notification.
Anyone can receive alerts for planning applications by going to the homepage of MCC’s website, putting in their postcode in the ‘My Monmouthshire’ box on the left hand side, pressing ‘Go’ and following the instructions.
Once an application has been registered by MCC, it is available to view on the online planning portal and is open for public consultation and comment for a period of three weeks. Comments must be in writing and can be submitted online, by email or by post. All planning applications can be viewed on their website by using the search facility.
MTC’s Planning Committee will meet to consider all planning applications for Monmouth and endeavours to submit comments within the public consultation period.
MCC should decide whether to approve or refuse an application within 8 weeks of the application first being registered or 12 weeks for larger schemes. This is to allow other statutory consultees to respond including the Highways Authority, Environmental, Heritage, Wales Water and others.
If MCC exceed the timescale in deciding the application, the applicant has the right to make an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate for non-determination (although in reality this rarely happens because planning appeals often take months).