Local Plan consultation responses are still being hidden by Hart Council
The recent Local Plan consultation responses were being hidden by Hart Council. However, thanks to questions at Thursday’s Council meeting and pressure from an open Freedom of Information request, the results will now be published. Hart Council cabinet member, Graham Cockarill announced that the consultation comments will be released on 6 November 2017.
Local Plan Consultation Responses History
The consultation on the draft Local Plan completed on 9 June 2017. The pro-forma response form said:
All valid comments (electronic or written) and the name(s) of the respondent will be made publically (sic) available. Personal contact details will remain confidential.
In answer to a question made at the council meeting held on 29 June asking when the consultation comments would be made public, the answer was:
We hope to be able to publish this information in the next couple of months
One of Hart’s own Code of Corporate Governance principles calls for “Ensuring openness and comprehensive stakeholder engagement”. More than four months have now elapsed since the close of the consultation, and the consultation responses have not yet been published.
It is our intention to publish all the responses received when we publish a Pre-Submission Local Plan for comments in Winter 2017.
However, at September Cabinet, they said that the next round of consultation would not start until January 2018:It was confirmed that the next stage on the Reg 19 consultation is expected to start in January