A COUNCIL has told developers it will not accept "unrealistic" mock-ups of schemes which feature non-existent trees or shrubs.

Adur District Council will no longer accept computer generated imagery (CGI) from developers if it does not accurately represent trees and plants – something it said can "bring the credibility of the planning system into dispute".

The planning committee will discuss several procedural changes at its meeting on September 5.

It follows an incident where a developer felled 36 trees in Shoreham, despite telling the planning committee that they would be kept.

%image('14763747', type="article-full", alt="CGI is often used to visualise a development before it is built and can be submitted with planning applications)

It later transpired that the developer did have permission to remove the trees, but this was permitted after the original planning application, meaning the committee was not consulted.

Shoreham councillor Jeremy Gardner and executive member for regeneration Steve Neocleous requested a report into the incident.

The report, written by the council’s director for the economy, highlights several examples where developers have not stuck to their landscaping plans or CGI.

It said: “Certain developments have been approved with various supporting images indicating the retention of existing trees and significant new planting, only to find that such planting is not delivered when the development is implemented.”

The report says that this "brings the credibility of the planning system into dispute" and can sometimes be down to CGI which gives "unrealistic impressions".

%image('14763749', type="article-full", alt="Councillors claim some CGI is giving an unrealistic impression of how the development will look ")

Such supporting evidence is being used by developers to "sell their schemes to the planning committee and the local community", it said.

The committee is now being asked to approve a number of changes to prevent this in future.

They include asking developers to remove proposed planting from CGI, to prevent details of a scheme from being "screened".

Planning officers will also ask developers for information about services surrounding the site so they can check if proposed tree planting and landscaping is physically possible.

Although this does not prevent developers from removing trees indefinitely, planning officers hope the changes will encourage them to maintain and plant trees if they previously committed to doing so.