Commenting on a planning application

The best way to submit your comments is online via the below link:

Quick Search - Malvern Hills District Council

If you do not know the planning application number, you can use the advanced search facility on these pages to search for application by other key words.

You can also comment in writing. Comments can be submitted in writing (noting the planning application reference) to our planning department at the Civic Centre.

Planning Services
Malvern Hills District Council
The Council House
Avenue Road
Malvern. WR14 3AF

Comments in writing will be scanned and made accessible on our website. To eliminate fraud, you may wish to print your name rather than use your signature. 

Please note: Comments you make will not be replied to, even if they include specific questions.

• Please include your name and address with any comments (we will accept e-mail addresses), so we can contact you about your comments if required. We can't accept confidential or anonymous comments. If you wish to comment anonymously, consider going through your local ward member or town or parish council who may comment on your behalf.
• Any comments made with false or misleading names and / or addresses will not be made public on our website.
• You must ensure your comments refer to relevant material considerations only and not of a personal nature.  Examples of relevant planning comments can be seen below.
• Please don’t include any other personal information in your comments.
• We cannot accept links to websites or social media. All comments must be fully detailed within the written comments.
• You are responsible for your comments and any statements you make. By submitting comments, you are agreeing that you will adhere to our website terms of use. You must ensure that your comments are not offensive, harmful or of a personal nature.

If we receive a complaint about a comment on our website, we have a duty of care to review this. If the comment does not adhere to our website terms of use we will consider removing it from our website. We will endeavour to contact you if we receive a complaint about your comment and to help you understand why your comment has been removed and how to resubmit your comments.

Your comments should include relevant material planning considerations only. You should try not to include your personal opinion or any neighbour disputes. These are not considered relevant

Some examples of what can be included in a relevant comment on a planning application are outlined below. This list is not exhaustive.  

Issues that are relevant in planning decisions

• Planning policy (SWDP including supplementary planning documents and NPPF)
• Council and government documents eg NPPG, monitoring reports etc
• Highway safety
• Traffic
• Sustainability
• Noise, disturbance and smells
• Land contamination and pollution
• Drainage issues
• Flood risk
• Design
• Character and appearance and layout
• Impact on landscape or character of area
• Impact on conservation area, listed buildings
• Ecology and biodiversity including protected species
• Impact on, or loss of trees
• Loss of privacy, overlooking
• Loss of light, overshadowing
• Overbearing impact
• Density
• Disabled persons access
• Economic impact
• Capacity of infrastructure
• Planning history of the site

Considerations which are not relevant and will not be taken into account

• Loss of private view (beyond private garden)
• Private neighbour disputes including boundary issues and ownership
• Covenants on land
• Impact on property value
• Personal circumstances
• Applicants motive, morals or identity
• Issues during construction
• Increased competition
• Damage/maintenance of property
• Amount of local opposition or support
• Matters covered by building control or other non- planning legislation

If you think a lot of people agree with you about a planning application, you can organise a petition. Comments submitted via a website or shared email address will be treated as a petition, even if the individual comments are slightly different and include names/addresses of individuals.

If you decide to organise a petition, please make sure that:

• it clearly states the purpose of the petition
• it gives the reasons (material planning considerations) why people are supporting or objecting to the application
• the names and addresses of the people signing the petition can be easily read
• there is a contact name and address for the person organising the petition

Petitions can support as well as oppose planning proposals and will be published on the Council’s website.

If you are organising the petition you will need to gain signatures from members of the public. All signatures will be redacted but names are visible. If you do this, you will need to gain consent anyone signing the petition to be able to submit this as a comment. This is so that we can share their data on our website.  

It is also so that adhere to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). By submitting a petition, you are agreeing to adhere to our website terms of use.

You can find further information on the Information Commissioner's website.

If it is unclear that you have obtained consent, we will not publish the petition on our website.

The case officer will review all comments submitted in respect of a planning application. These will be reviewed against the relevant policies and guidelines.

Most applications are decided by a case officer. On occasions a decision will be made by a planning committee. Read information on the Scheme of Delegation.

You can track the application online for updates. This includes being told when a decision has been made. There is an option to ‘track this app’ at the top of the landing page of the specific application.

Your comments may not appear on the website immediately, particularly if you did not comment via the website. If your comments do not meet the requirements, they may not appear on the website.

All personal data held is processed in accordance with data protection law. For further information please see our Privacy Notice on our website.

All information disclosed on the file on our website regarding an application is open to public inspection.

For security purposes, the intention is that all signatures, e-mail addresses and telephone contact details will be withheld from publication on our website. However, these may still be open to inspection by personal visitors at our offices. We do not accept anonymous representations. As a minimum all representations should contain your name and home address.

Any comments/objections posted directly to our website will include all the information which you provide (including personal contact details such as signatures, email address and telephone contact details). If you do not wish for these personal contact details to appear on our website, please do not include them in your online.

Our websites are also indexed by various search engines meaning it may be possible to find your comment and any personal details you provide using an online search engine such as Google, Bing and others. 

If you do not wish your personal information to appear on our website or be found by a search engine, then you should not submit your comment online. Instead, you should make your comments via your town or parish council.

All comments made automatically appear on our website. Make sure that your comments are relevant and not defamatory or offensive, as you remain personally and legally responsible for them. If you are submitting photographs, please ensure they do not contain personal information such as car number plates and that they are relevant to the proposed development under consideration. We reserve the right to remove from this website the entirety of any comment which contains any words which are or may be considered to be defamatory or offensive.