A THIRD meeting of the planning committee in Christchurch has been cancelled in nine months, but the council says there are not enough relevant applications.

Councillors were due to meet in two weeks time to consider developments and proposals for schemes in the borough that are not suitable for a decision from a planning officer.

However, due to a “lack of business” this month’s meeting joins those from January and August on the scrapped list.

The planning committee is not the only board suffering from a supposed shortage of relevant subjects.

Last week’s community committee was called off for the same reason, although a “special meeting” has now been booked in for Wednesday, April 18.

While the council says there are not enough items to hold a meeting, there are several large developments awaiting a decision from the authority.

An example includes the joint scheme submitted by the Beach Hut Cafe and Christchurch Life Saving Club, which closed for residents' comments in late November.

Plans for the former G&T's warehouse store in Highcliffe had a similar deadline, while reserved matters for the second part of Hoburne's major development on Lymington Road closed for responses in January.

Cllr Lesley Dedman, chair of the planning committee, said she did discuss the situation with officers before agreeing to cancel the meeting.

"The reason applications have not come to committee is because they are suitable for a delegated officer decision or all the paper work has not been submitted correctly," Cllr Dedman said.

"It does not make sense to put a meeting on without a suitable amount of business to deal with."

The council confirmed there was a very limited cost into putting a meeting on as officers who have to attend and work at the evening meetings take time back during another day at an appropriate time, rather than being paid overtime.