TOWN and parish councillors have aired their concerns over new government calls for councils to make all planning applications available online in time for April 1 next year. At a larger local council's forum, East Hampshire District Council planning officers explained how the changes would affect towns and parishes but councillors remained unhappy at the enforced and potentially costly changes. Among the councillors' concerns were: l How they would be able to condense printed plans that could be one-and-a-half inches thick l Whether blurred pages could be read online l If the attendance of planning officers at meetings would be affected. l Whether projectors should be provided to allow members of the public who attend meetings to view plans l And whether town and parish councils would be saddled with the huge costs of providing plans. Town and parish councillors urged EHDC to help by block buying necessary equipment. Liss parish councillor Sue Halstead said: "Budget is coming up fast so this is an opportunity for council officers to work with individual parish councils. There is an indication that money should be spent to help parishes solve the problem." Others said processing applications solely online would take freedom of choice. Bramshott and Liphook parish councillor Anna James said: "I represent people and if the people I represent want to check a plan on a piece of paper I want to offer them the choice." Petersfield Town Council clerk Neil Hitch said: "I am all for moving forward but there should be an element of choice. Possibly the cost of this is being transferred from developers to local councils." EHDC head of planning development Daryl Phillips told the councillors how the plans were going to affect them, as the district council set out to meet government targets to bring them up to date. However, he promised some money to help bridge the change. Mr Phillips said: "The electric world is all around us and local authorities are also affected. "The Government measures us against electronic targets and says the information should be available 365 days a year. There is a cost consequence as we have to get the software and people in. It's inevitable that in a few years there will be no paper copies. We have to bite the bullet." Mr Phillips assured councillors that in some instances hard copies of applications would have to be provided, but human resource issues had brought about the enforced change. To accommodate the changes at meetings parish councils would need laptops, projectors and a screen. Mr Phillips said: "We are happy to help provide the costs to get over that hurdle. It's a time for change and we need to see how we are going to embrace it." EHDC deputy leader Sam James said: "This will affect the couple who do not have a computer, who have gone in to the library for years to look at the plans. "Plans are illegible on a small screen. Whoever thought this one through knows nothing about planning applications."
