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Agenda item

Report of the Constitution Working Group - Planning Protocol and Scheme of Delegation

Purpose

To consider updates to the planning scheme of delegation and the planning protocol following review in practice of the updated format of those parts adopted from 1 April 2024, for the benefit of all stakeholders.

 

Recommendation

That Council resolves to:

  1. Approve the changes and corrections to the Scheme of Delegation in respect of the Planning & Licensing Committee.
  2. Approve the changes and corrections to Planning Protocol in respect of the Planning & Licensing Committee.

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to consider updates to the planning scheme of delegation and the planning protocol following a review in practice of the updated format of those parts adopted from 1 April 2024, for the benefit of all stakeholders.

 

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services, Councillor Juliet Layton, introduced the report and the amended Annex A.

 

The amendment read as follows:

 

Add text to right and column of section 3.A (page 151 of the Agenda) to add:

Types of applications NOT to be determined under delegated powers…

 

(d) Planning applications, Permission in Principle and Technical Details Consent applications involving either (i) the provision of 10 or more dwellinghouses, (ii) where the number of new dwellinghouses is unknown, the residential development is proposed to land comprising 0.5 hectares or greater area, (iii)1,000m2 non-residential building floorspace or the development of 1 hectare or more land

 

(excluding any such applications where amendments of, or variations to, existing permissions are sought, as defined by Sections 73A and 73B of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990)

 

The following points were made:

  • The Council in January 2024 approved a revised Scheme of Delegation and Planning Protocol for adoption within the Constitution.
  • Following a review by the Constitution Working Group, the report from Planning officers was designed to correct irregularities that arose from a recent review of it. This included speaking rights for Ward Members within the Planning Protocol to ensure they only spoke before the debate. This was a change that had been made previously but had come out of the approved version in January in error.
  • The updated Planning Protocol would help to provide consistency for the ways Members could refer applications to the Planning and Licensing Committee.
  • The Scheme of Delegation included updates to provide clarity and wording updates within delegations to ensure officers using the scheme were sure of the rules under which they were operating.
  • The changes built on the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) work which reviewed the scheme.
  • The amendment proposed would ensure that large development applications would come to Planning and Licensing Committee automatically.

 

There was a question raised regarding if this was a procedure to refine the protocol rather than being a substantive change. Councillor Layton confirmed that this was simply a case of clarifying and correcting wording in the documents.

 

Following a question for clarity, it was confirmed that the amendment would be inserted at page 146 of the papers and not page 150 as stated.

 

A question was asked around whether relatives of Councillors would come under the restrictions of delegated authority use. This was confirmed by Councillor Layton as being correct.

 

There was also a question regarding Listed Building matters and declining to entertain an application. The Interim Development Management Manager noted that whilst rarely used, the authority can decline to hear an application if the application was being dealt with on appeal or was not substantially different from one previously rejected by the authority.

 

The rules of debate at Planning and Licensing Committee were then discussed as being different from those of Full Council or other Committees. The Interim Development Management Manager noted that all authorities were different but there was no set process for the determination of applications. Councillor Layton noted that the Constitution Working Group could look at that as part of its work programme.

 

Councillor Len Wilkins in seconding the recommendations noted that the Constitution Working Group had looked at the changes in great detail and was pleased to second them for agreement.

 

Councillor Layton then summed up the debate:

 

  • Thanks were given for the questions raised.
  • It was hoped that these changes should put the Scheme of Delegation and the Protocol on a firm footing.  

Supporting documents:

 

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