Statement of Community Involvement - key information

For the latest version of Southwark SCI, please visit the Council's website here.

The SCI sets the council's policy for community involvement. It should meet the minimum legal requirements for consultation while at the same time being tailored to the local authority’s circumstances.

An effective SCI must:
  • Set out the Council's strategy for community involvement in the preparation of planning policies;
  • Set out the Council’s policy for consultation on planning applications
  • Identify clearly the range of local community groups who need to be involved;
  • Identify clearly how the application of the SCI will be monitored and, if needed, reviewed;
  • Show how community's inputs are to be fed into the preparation of planning policies and into decisions on planning applications;
  • Show that the Council understands how to best involve the different communities in a timely and accessible way;
  • Show that the Council has enough resources to manage the process effectively;
When will the residents and community groups be invovled?
  • Planning Applications:
    • letter sent to local residents affected and site notice;
    • neighbours consultation for 21 days beginning with the date of service, or 14 days beginning with the date of publication of the notice
    • the Council should encourage pre-application consultation with local and statutory consultees and negotiation between applicant and local residents
    • if Southwark Council is submitting its own application, pre-application consultation is statutory.
  • Develoment plan documents (DPDs) like Area Action Plans:
    • letter sent to statutory consultees;
    • six (6) weeks informal + six (6) weeks formal consultation at each drafting stage: scoping | issues and options | preferred options | draft | sustainability appraisal and strategic environmental assessment;
    • all consultees to receive feed-back and updates
    • DPD sent to Planning Inspector for Inquiry which consultees can request to participate in
  • Supplementary Plan Documents
    • letter sent to statutory consultees;
    • six (6) weeks informal + six (6) weeks formal consultation on draft document;
    • all consultees to receive feed-back and updates
Which groups and communities will be involved?
  • Statutory bodies: (Countryside Agency, English Heritage, English Nature, Environment Agency, Regional Development Agency);
  • Local consultees: (local residents, community groups, interest groups, voluntary organisations, BME groups, Pensioners/old people, Refugee groups, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender groups, Faith groups);
  • Other consultees: (Age concern, Southwark PCT, Police/Crime Prevention, TfL, Housing Corporation, Southwark Equality Council)
How will the residents community be involved?
  • Information giving: This includes local papers, TV, radio, internet, presentations to community councils, documents made available at council offices. Information can be provided, on request, in large prints and translated in one of the main languages identified by Southwark. A list of current planning applications is updated weekly and is available from the planning team and on the Southwark website
  • Consultation: This is a Government requirement (statutory consultation) which includes a mailout to statutory bodies, document display at council’s offices and website, an advertisement in the local press. The SCI also sets out how the council will overcome barriers to community consultation for hard to reach groups;
  • Participation: When the council involves other stakeholders in the preparation of planning documents or planning applications;
  • Partnership: When the council is involved with other local groups, residents and business in a project or programme such as a regeneration programme for a specific area.