Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

394.

Emergency Evacuation Procedure

The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

 

The Chairman will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

  

The Chairman will inform the meeting that:

 

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park.  Nobody must leave the assembly point until everybody can be accounted for and nobody must return to the building until the Chairman has informed them that it is safe to do so; and

 

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

 

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

 

It is important that the Chairman is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

 

Minutes:

The Chairman drew attention to the Emergency Evacuation Procedure.

395.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

 

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

 

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

 

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary Interests (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

 

(c)          Where it is possible that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Member might be predetermined or biased the Member should declare their predetermination or bias and then leave the meeting while that item is considered.

 

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

 

Minutes:

No interests were declared.

396.

Erroneous Planning Decisions pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the report which set-out details of the Audit investigation and the timeline of events following the publication of the erroneous planning decisions by Mid-Kent Planning Support on 19 August 2021.  The Chairman thanked officers for the well written report and outlined the format of the meeting for Members.

 

The Chairman asked Members for any observations on the covering report.

 

In response to questions from Members, the Chief Executive confirmed that the signatures of the Head of Planning which were on the applications were digital signatures stored within the computer system. She explained that as the information for the forms was pulled-through it also added the digital signature.  If those signatures had not been on the applications, the Chief Executive thought they would probably not have been valid, but this would need to be confirmed with legal services.  She reminded Members that there were different processes for the ‘live’ system and the ‘test’ system. 

 

Members raised points which included:

 

·        The key problem occurred in 2018 as set-out in the report when Mid-Kent Planning Services (MKPS) did not specify to Mid-Kent Planning IT precisely what they wanted, and it was that which needed resolving;

·        considered there had been an oversight by Council Leaders who should have been aware of the issue and ensured that the correct processes were in place;

·        did not understand why the Head of Planning’s signature had been used on a ‘test’ site;

·        Members had an obligation to oversee this process and it was not a failing of officers;

·        someone had to take responsibility for the error, and it was unfair to put it onto officers;

·        the risks had not been properly managed;

·        disappointed that in four years the issue had not been dealt with;

·        the testing of the system was ‘hopeless’;

·        the IT section should have known that the testing was flawed;

·        concerned that staff in IT services did not appear to have been trained to use the ‘Uniform’ computer system;

·        to allow an IT system to be used without proper testing, supervision and protocols was ultimately Members’ responsibility;

·        would not expect the Leader to be involved in the ‘micro-management’ of the operational business of the Council; and

·        did not seek to blame Council leaders, officers or want anybody disciplined.  Members needed to establish how the problem could be resolved to stop it happening again, not just on Planning but any other IT system.

 

In response the Leader said they were not looking to blame anyone.  The issue had never been brought to the attention of any Council Leader, and he expected Council staff to ensure the ‘operational business’ of the Council was maintained.   He was aware that these particular issues were considered at the Mid-Kent strategic board meetings. 

 

The Chairman referred to Appendix 1 which set out details of the investigation led by the Head of Audit Partnership and invited questions and comments from Members.

 

Members made points and asked questions which included:

 

·        Why had it taken until 31 August 2021 to report the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 396.

397.

Adjournment of Meeting

Minutes:

The meeting was adjourned at 8.41 pm until 8.46 pm.