Officers' scope to draft planning conditions

I have just come across a situation which has highlighted a bit of an anomaly to me - where a case officer recommended an application for refusal but the committee voted against her recommendation and decided to grant. The scope of the committee resolution did not spell out any conditions which it considered necessary, but there were clear issues with the proposed development which it would be logical to deal with by way of cconditions.

How far do officers' drafting powers go, in relation to these conditions? Presumably not too far, or they could effectively negate (or at least seriously water down) the committee's decision, but as their professional view was that the development was not acceptable, they may well be minded to condition a grant quite heavily.

Is the answer that the officer is restricted to conditioning only those matters discussed by members before voting, even if their resolution doesn't refer to the issues? There are of course circular requirements that the conditions must be reasonable etc, but that doesn't seem to deal with the relationship between officer and member. How is this dealt with in practice?

Comments

[Bish Bosh]

Overturned decision can be a problem for officers. It's good practice to anticipate this though and go the meeting with a list of conditions you might think necessary in the event. The Chairman will usually ask you for suggested conditions at some point but occasionally you have to but in before the next item is called.

Even more problematical is trying to get members to come up with a reason for approval in the event of an overturned decision. If you request one during the meeting you can come off sounding a bit sour about them overturning you, which of course is not the intention.

[Caroline Bywater]

Interesting comment, thanks for your input. Perhaps it is a question of the Chairman appreciating the need to deal with the issue, and for members to understand the importance of knowing exactly what they are voting for - not simply the principle of a development.