The Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 allows all comments to be seen by the public, including the applicant(s). Letters of comment will be displayed on the website during the determination of the application. Before we publish planning documentation on our website, we will take all reasonable steps to remove: personal phone numbers (not business), email addresses and signatures from planning applications, representations or other documents received as part of the planning application process – we have done this since about 2006.
Until we are satisfied that personal information held on applications prior to 2006 has been removed, we will only display the decision notice and drawings on all determined applications.
If you have any queries or concerns about any published information, please phone our business support team on 023 9268 8832.
Defamatory, rude, or inappropriate comments
Whilst uncommon, the content of some representations can be inappropriate.
What constitutes an inappropriate comment will be determined on a case-by-case basis, and could include (but is not limited to):
- Racial, sexual or any other discrimination
- Threatening or abusive language
- Personal details about an individual
- Comments about intent of an individual or their conduct
If a comment is deemed to be inappropriate, Portsmouth City Council as the Local
Planning Authority will take the following steps:
- Remove the content from the public register
- Contact the author and give them the opportunity to reword their comments
- If the author of the comment does not wish to reword their comments, the council may choose to redact it as deemed appropriate and display the redacted comments on our public facing website.