Hi Robert and Peter,
PAS is just about to produce a set of guidance notes for LPAs on pre-application engagement as part of a cross sector project. One of the notes will be about councillor and community engagement and deals with the arrangements that councils can set up for giving councillors the chance to havean early presnetaion on a proposals so that they can geta better understanding of all the issues and the developer can hear what the areas of concern are and take these on board. Unfortunately we dont quite have sign off on these yet ( will be out in January).
We have found a range of options are used by councils - from early briefing meetings of both ward members and members of the planning committee, to the more open public meetings that Peter describes. It will depend largely on what you want to accomplish - a larger public meeting has more transparency, but the practical arrangements of having a large meeting means that discussing options for overcoming any concerns can be difficult to achieve: therefore it does tend to be more present and listen. If the developer does the arranging it can also feel a bit more promotional.
If you opt for a smaller briefing with the councillors, they key is to make sure that there are very good minutes of the meeting(especially any advice given), make sure these are agreed and then make the notes available as early as you can.
