The Head of Place introduced the report which set-out proposed changes to the Scheme of Planning Delegations to ensure the most appropriate applications were considered by the Planning Committee.

The Chair invited Members to make comments, which included:

·         Had a shared desire to improve the confidence of the Planning Committee;

·         sought for greater accountability for Councillors when they made decisions at the Planning Committee;

·         thought that there needed to be more information for the public on registering to speak;

·         we needed to advertise the rules on speaking at Planning Committee better so the public understood what they could say at Planning Committees;

·         thought it was unfair to give all planning speakers three minutes to speak on an item when some items were more complex than others; and

·         neighbours were not being notified of planning applications.

Councillor Julien Speed proposed three changes to the report which included:

(1)   The changes to 2.8.15.2 (b)(iii), relating to the Parish Councils calling in applications needed changing as sometimes the Parish Councils did not know what the officers recommendation was going to be before responding. Therefore, the section needed to be amended to say ‘Where it is clearly stated that the Parish or Town Council would like the application to be decided by the Planning Committee in the event that the officer’s recommendation conflicts with the Parish or Town Council view.’

(2)   Point 2.8.15.2 (d) was unfair towards Parish and Town Councils as they did not always have members on their planning committee system that understood planning considerations and an amendment should be made to give them a second chance of submitting their reasons for calling in an application before the planning committee.

(3)   The final change to 2.8.15.2, would like to see the chair given an opportunity to strike the application off the agenda if the Parish or Town Council did not send a representative to the planning committee to speak on the reasons why they called the application in.

These amendments were seconded by Councillor Lloyd Bowen.

The Chair invited Members to make comments on the amendments, which included:

·         The first change was reasonable as the Parish or Town Councils would sometimes agree with the officer recommendation once they understood how the officer felt;

·         it was not just the Parish or Town Councils that could call-in applications, ward members could so did not see a reason to allow Parish or Town Councils another chance to submit their reasons for a call-in;

·         thought that giving the chair an opportunity to strike off an application would put the chair in a difficult position;

·         if the Parish or Town Council did not submit a speaker for the application that an agent, objector or member of the public could turn up to Planning Committee expecting to speak but then be told the Chair has decided to strike off the application and that would not be democratic;

·         thought the council needed to do more to educate Parish or Town Councils on planning considerations;

·         if the Parish or Town Council had to submit their comments using proper planning considerations, then they did not need to come along and present their reasons again in front of the committee;

·         did not need someone physically to turn up to the committee and that Parish or Town Council representatives could speak online, remotely; and

·         sometimes three minutes to speak on the reasons for why you had called-in the application was not long enough, Parish or Town Councils should be given the opportunity to speak for longer on larger applications.

Councillor Julien Speed withdrew amendment three (3).

The amendments were put to the vote and amendment one (1) was carried and amendment two (2) was lost.

Councillor Angela Harrison moved a motion that the requirement for a recorded vote on each planning application be removed from the proposed changes to the scheme of planning delegations. This was seconded by Councillor Lloyd Bowen.

On being put to the vote the motion was agreed.

Recommended:

(1)  That the proposed change to 2.8.15.2 (b)(iii) be amended to say ‘Where it is clearly stated that the Parish or Town Council would like the application to be decided by the Planning Committee in the event that the officer’s recommendation conflicts with the Parish or Town Council view.

(2)  That the requirement of a recorded vote for all Planning Committee votes be removed from the proposed changes to the Scheme of Delegations and Committee Procedure Rules, as set-out in Appendix I.

(3)  That the proposed changes to the Scheme of Delegation and Committee Procedure Rules, as otherwise set-out in Appendix I, be recommended to Full Council for adoption.