Responsibilities
Leeds City Council is the planning authority for Clifford.  It alone can grant planning permission but the parish council has a statutory right to be consulted about all applications in the parish and is sent a copy of every application.  Most applications are considered by the parish council’s own planning committee, meeting between regular council meetings.

This is the only stage at which the parish council has a right to make observations.  So it is important that views are made known at this stage.

Publicity
Planning is an open process and the city council is obliged to publicise planning applications.  The minimum legal requirement is that it places notices in the vicinity of the application site, usually by fixing them to a lamp-post or similar.

The city council additionally informs neighbours by letter of planning applications.  At the same time, the plans themselves are made available for viewing at Wetherby library.  In some cases, our own planning committee may visit the site and talk to neighbours but time is not available for them to do this with every case.  Details of applications also appear in the Yorkshire Evening Post each Thursday (listed under Wetherby) and in the Wetherby News on a Friday.  It is not feasible to publish details in OUTLOOK because of the short time-scale for responding to the plans.

 

So residents need to:

• send in their objections or observations to the city council as soon as they receive the notification of the application
• inform Cllr Procter of any objections they have sent in
• if they wish the parish council to know their views before it sends in its own comments to the city council, write to the clerk, Tracey Poulter, again as soon as they receive notification.

Alterations to your home
Although some work may be ‘permitted development’, it is unwise to assume that you can extend or alter your home without applying for permission.  This
is particularly true within the village conservation  area.  A government booklet explains matters further and can be borrowed from the clerk to the parish council.  Advice concerning satellite T.V. dishes should be sought from the planning department before installation.

It is strongly recommended that householders always contact the Leeds City Council Planning Department  0113 247 8000 about whether proposed changes require planning permission.  You are advised not to accept the opinion of builders, contractors or installers of prefabricated extensions as authoritative. Please note that, even when work is classed as permitted development, it is required to comply with current building regulations. 

Pruning and felling of Trees
Permission is normally needed to prune or fell trees over a certain size.  This is particularly the case in the Clifford conservation area. Before undertaking any work, application should be made to the Tree Officer, Richard Lapish, on 0113 247 8149.  You are advised either to do this yourself or ensure that any commercial firm undertaking work on your trees has obtained written authorisation.  The fines for unauthorised action are substantial.