Planning & Highways Committee

The agendas and minutes can be found at the bottom of the page.

The Town Council has the opportunity to comment on all Planning applications within the parish of Thatcham prior to their being considered by the West Berkshire District Council Planning Committee, where the final decisions on permission are made.

Terms of Reference:

• To exercise the functions of the Council in respect of planning matters, referring any particular issues to Council or another Committee for comments and recommendations as the Planning and Highways Committee deems appropriate.
• To consider all planning related applications, orders and notices within the Parish and to make representations to the appropriate authority.
• Encourage potential developers of major sites ( i.e. more than 10 units) to proactively engage with Thatcham Town Council at the earliest opportunity to ensure that any schemes put forward to the Local Planning Authority are appropriate for Thatcham.
• To identify and make representations to the relevant authorities in respect of enforcement action or any matters considered to be breaches of planning regulations.
• To engage with West Berkshire Council to ensure s106 Developers’ Contributions and Community Infrastructure Levy funds for Thatcham are allocated to meet the needs of the town.
• To develop and monitor Supplementary Planning Guidance documents for adoption by West Berkshire District Council as material considerations.
• To actively promote and engage the local community in local Planning matters.
• To respond to, and take part in, any discussion with regard to Planning Policy documents, Local Plans, the Core Strategy, the Local Development Framework, and other such documents from West Berkshire District Council.
• To consider all Traffic Management/Road Safety issues in Thatcham referring any particular matters to Council or another Committee for comments and recommendations as the Planning and Highways Committee A as deemed appropriate.
• To consider requests for grit bins and agree expenditure within a predetermined budget agreed by the Council.
• To consider and respond to consultation documents when the appropriate scheduled Committee is not within the given timeframe to meet the deadline.