Agenda item

The Committee received a report setting out the proposals for the establishment (on a temporary basis) of two new planning committees (Western and Eastern). These would temporarily replace the Council’s five existing planning committees in order to streamline planning committee decision-making arrangements whilst resources were stretched due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was proposed that the arrangements would continue until 7 May 2021, or until Council decided to revert to the current arrangements, whichever was sooner.

Cllr John Ward had registered to speak and commended the proposed arrangements. These recognised the importance of planning to Members and the public, and the imperative from the government to keep planning running during these unprecedented times. The arrangements had been developed in consultation with all Group Leaders and independent members, and had been agreed in principle. Cllr Ward noted that the arrangements did not include a proposal to exclude ward members from voting on applications within their own ward. This had been discussed previously and would remove the possibility of a ward member having predetermined an application and would allow them to openly advocate for their ward residents.

The Committee discussed the role of ward members on the committees but felt that when discussed previously there had not been a consensus on whether to adopt this. Overall, it was felt that that should be addressed at another time, as the issues were not directly related to the current situation.

The Committee noted that there was now a backlog of planning applications to be considered, particularly for Western Area, and noted that initially the new committees would meet on an alternate weekly basis until the backlog had been addressed. In order to keep meeting agendas manageable, the number of planning applications on each would be limited to 3 – 4, and committee members would be strongly encouraged to follow up with the appropriate planning officers on any technical matters in advance of the meeting. 

The Committee discussed when the arrangements should be reviewed, and agreed that Council should have the opportunity to decide in December 2020 whether to revert to the normal arrangements from January 2021. In addition, the Committee agreed that it should have an opportunity to review the agreed arrangements at its September meeting to consider whether any refinement was needed.

The Committee agreed that Recommendation 4 should include consultation with the Ward Member(s) as well as the relevant Planning Committee Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

The Standards Committee accordingly RESOLVED to recommend to Council for approval the following:

i.     that the arrangements set out in Section 4 are adopted as a temporary measure to facilitate decision-making by Planning Committees whilst the work of the Council is impacted by the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic;

ii.    the Terms of Reference of the new temporary WESTERN and EASTERN planning committees as set out in Annexe 3 are incorporated into the Constitution and clearly identified as being temporary measures for a period to be agreed by Full Council;

iii.  that the need for the new temporary WESTERN and EASTERN planning committees is kept under review by the Planning Committee Chairman in consultation with the Head of Planning & Economic Development, and should be reviewed by Full Council in December 2020; and,

iv.  that where an application could be decided under delegated authority were it not for there being a connection with a Member or Officer, then these applications may be delegated to the Head of Planning & Economic Development in consultation with the relevant Planning Committee Chairman and Vice-Chairman, and Ward Member, such special delegation expiring with the temporary planning committee arrangements.

The Standards Committee further RESOLVED that it would review the agreed arrangements for the temporary planning committees at its meeting in September 2020.