Planning Applications for Stisted parish can be viewed on the Braintree District Council Planning Portal. Planning Applications and Tree Preservation Order requests are allocated to Parish Councils as consultees for comment. These are advised to the parish clerk who includes them on the next council agenda for discussion and to agree an appropriate consultee comment. These comments can be seen on the Braintree website along with other consultee comments
There are two key areas of planning in sub menus. These cover the Braintree District Council Local Plan Call for Sites Link to Call for Sites for Stisted Parish and the 2024 Essex Mineral plan which proposed possible gravel pits around the village. Click here for link to Gravel Extraction PageFurther updates are due later in 2025
This Planning Services section of Braintree District Council (BDC) gives Stisted Parish Council details of all relevant Planning Applications received and allocates them for consultee comment. Parishioners and individuals may also comment directly on planning applications, thereby giving parishioners the opportunity to express an opinion on proposed developments. The Parish Council reviews each Application and proposes a response to BDC after considering:
- any written comments from parishioners already on the planning portal, or verbal comments in the public participation
- the Conservation Areas covering a large part of the village
- village envelopes
- responses to the Application posted on the BDC planning website
- changes in planning legislation and guidelines
- the Material Planning Considerations followed by BDC
At present the Stisted Neighbourhood plan has not been adopted and is awaiting final ratification from Braintree District Council and once this is done, it will be part of the considerations in responses to planning applications
The Parish Council decides the response to BDC, (which can be viewed on the Braintree District Council Planning Portal Braintree Planning Portal)
It can be:
- no objection to the application, or:
- details of concerns that should be addressed before the application is approved, or:
- the proposal is not supported, giving the reasons for the opinion
All responses can be seen by parishioners in the Parish Council minutes and on the BDC planning website under the Planning Application number.
It must be remembered that BDC is responsible for planning decisions, and Stisted Parish Council, on behalf of parishioners, may only express an opinion. Eventual decisions by Braintree Planning may contradict this opinion – and even where planning is refused, the applicant can amend and resubmit or go to appeal on the decision.