Only three people a side could speak at most Fareham planning meetings under new rules, six on big schemes. Ward councillors would get a time limit too.

Fareham council plans to limit how many residents can speak on a planning application. Under proposals going to the Planning Committee on 11 November, only three people could speak in person for an application and three against it. On major schemes the limit would be six a side.

A fourth speaker would be encouraged to send in a written statement instead. Written statements would also be capped.

The report admits the cap “may seem undemocratic”. It argues that limits are common, and says Havant Borough Council applies a similar one.

What would change

Now Proposed: most applications Proposed: major schemes
In-person speakers, each side no fixed limit 3 6
Time, each side 3 minutes for one speaker, or 6 minutes shared at least 2 minutes each 12 minutes in total
Written statements, each side share the same time, as a word count 6, 400 words each 12
Ward councillors who are not on the committee no time limit 6 minutes 6 minutes

A major scheme means any of these:

  • 10 or more homes
  • a residential site of 0.5 hectares, if the number of homes is not known
  • a new building or buildings of 1,000 square metres or more
  • any development on a site of 1 hectare or more

Councillors who want to speak as ward members would also have to give notice by noon the day before, and would appear on the published speakers’ list.

The meeting behind it

The report describes a recent meeting, which it does not date or name, where nine people registered to speak against one application. Officers tried to help them choose a spokesperson, and that was not possible.

The rules would have given each of them 40 seconds. Officers raised that to 1.5 minutes per person. So opponents had 13.5 minutes in total and supporters had 6.

Under the new rules that could not happen. Even if that application counted as major, six of the nine would speak and three would be asked to write in. On a smaller scheme, six would be asked to write in.

How often it matters

The report says officers want to make the process simpler and fairer, and avoid a repeat. It says the example is rare but likely to involve “a high-profile, large application with strong public feeling”.

Its own table of the past three years shows how rare. In 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 there was only one case of more than three in-person speakers on one side, and that was in support.

So the cap would seldom apply. But the report accepts that the cases where it does are the ones likely to place the council “under greater scrutiny”.

Who decides

The committee is only asked to note the report and comment. It then goes to the Audit and Governance Committee on 23 November. The Monitoring Officer can make the change without a vote, after consulting the Planning Committee chairman, because the scheme sits under delegated powers.

The report does not say whether the current option of a nominated spokesperson with a separate 6 minutes, or the separate slot for approved amenity groups, would survive. It also gives no start date.

The change comes days after new national planning rules began sending fewer applications to the committee at all. The 11 November agenda holds just two applications: a tree works application at 4 Runnymede and a proposal at 29 Shrubbery Close, Portchester.

What it means for you

  • Nothing has changed yet. The current rules still apply on 11 November.
  • If you plan to speak on a contested scheme, register early once the rules change. The report says a fourth request would be pointed towards a written statement, but not how places would be shared out.
  • If you want your say on the change, the report goes to the committee at 2pm on 11 November. You can ask your ward councillors to raise it there or on 23 November.

Sources