How decisions are made

The Director of Planning or other authorised planning officers consider and make the decisions on most planning applications received by the Council, even if they are the subject of objections by the public or other bodies.

Some major or particularly contentious proposals may be referred to the Planning Committee (formerly known as the Development Control Committee), which normally meets every 3-4 weeks. These meetings are usually held on Thursday evenings in the Council Chamber at the Council Offices, Oxted starting at 7.30pm.

Where an application is referred to Committee and you have made comments, we will contact you to tell you about our public speaking arrangements and invite you to the meeting. Even if you cannot attend, your comments will be summarised within the agenda reports. They are also available for the Councillors to read before the meeting.

The Committee agenda is published 5 working days before the meeting and can be viewed via this link Development Control Committee. The Minutes are available via the same link a few days after the meeting. The most common codes used for recording decisions in these are:

AF - Full Permission granted
AD - Approval of Details (pursuant to outline permission)
AO - Outline Permission granted
AOA - Approval of Amendment
ADC - Advert Consent
ADR - Advert Refusal
CAC - Conservation Area Consent
CAR - Conservation Area Refusal
D - Deferred for further consideration
DC - Consent for Council's own development
LBC - Listed Building Consent
LBR - Listed Building refusal
R - Refusal of Permission
SS - referred to Secretary of State for decision (e.g. Departure or call-in)
TEMP - Temporary permission
W - Withdrawn
106 - Subject to prior completion of Legal Agreement

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