Planning

The City of Ely Council members sit on one of two Planning Committees which meet every two weeks.  The Mayor and Deputy Mayor attend all of the meetings and the Committee is Chaired by the Mayor.

The Committees can only make recommendations, as it is East Cambs District Council Planning Department or Planning Committee that determines the outcomes of planning applications.

The number of plans reviewed has steadily increased over the years as the economy shows signs of recovery.  The general view is to approve applications to support the economy and growth in the area as long as plans do not contravene policies around city centre signage, negatively affect street scenes or create access problems on busy roads etc.

(Cllr Wade, Cllr Trent and Cllr Whelan are not included on the Planning Committees as in their capacity as East Cambs District Councillors, they sit on ECDC’s Planning Committee.  Therefore, they cannot take part in any discussion regarding planning applications, as they may come before ECDC’s Planning Committee and could be seen to have a pre-determined opinion.)