Material planning considerations

What are material planning considerations?

When reviewing your comments on an application the following can be taken into account, which are called material considerations:

• traffic generation, highway safety and parking
• overshadowing, overlooking and loss of privacy
• noise, disturbance or other loss of amenities
• relevant planning policies
• effect on trees
• design eg height/bulk/position of buildings, appearance, effect on surrounding area
• inadequate landscaping/means of enclosure

The following matters are not normally issues which can be taken into account:

• loss of property value
• issues of market competition
• loss of a view
• the applicant’s motives, character or personal circumstances
• matters covered by other legislation, including restrictive covenants on land
• issues relating to land ownership/property boundaries, including the need to access land to undertake development
• moral or religious issues
• issues relating to the construction of a development
• the reasons why a developer is making the application or their activities elsewhere