Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document
Meeting of the Executive held on 11/07/2006
Modernising Planning Special Interest Group
APPENDIX P
WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL
MODERNISING PLANNING SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
3RD JULY 2006
REPORT TO THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE - 11TH JULY 2006
A.
APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN
A.1 The Portfolio Holder for Planning and Major Projects, Mr P Haveron was confirmed as Chairman of the Modernising Planning Special Interest Group (SIG) for the current council year.
B.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
The updated Terms of Reference of the SIG which were noted at the meeting are to:-
1. consider the operation of the Development Management Committees and make recommendations for change;
2. consider and make recommendations for service improvements or actions arising from the Department for Communities and Local Government evaluation or from the Best Value re-inspection of the Planning Service; and
3. consider the utilisation of the Planning Delivery Grant allocated to the Council to deliver service improvements.
C.
DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ISSUES
C.1 There is ongoing commitment to keep under review issues that arise from the new Development Management Committee structure, which was implemented in January 2006. Within the last two months both Members and staff have expressed concern about the late finish of the development management meetings. The Modernising Planning SIG, at its meeting on 3rd July 2006, considered a discussion paper about how this issue might be managed (report attached at
Annexe 1)
C.2 The SIG also considered a concern raised by a Member that the public speaking scheme is currently only triggered by letters of objection and not by letters of support.
C.3 The SIG considered the matters arising from the report and agreed the following:-
(i) there did not need to be any change to the number of applications on the agenda or the frequency of meetings;
(ii) the SIG agreed that the scheme of delegation did need to be looked at again. In particular, the delegation of applications which have been re-submitted and where variations are being sought to an existing planning permission and are minor in nature. Officers confirmed at the meeting that a report would be produced. This is now attached at
Annexe 2
for the Executive's consideration;
(iii) the SIG also agreed that there should not be any change to the referral to Committee by Ward Members but that there should be active dialogue between Waverley and the Town and Parish Councils. Members suggested that as part of that dialogue the Town and Parish Councils should be encouraged when giving comments on an application to emphasise the specific local characteristics and amenity affected by the proposal and to avoid detailed policy advice that duplicated the advice Members receive from planning officers;
(iv) the SIG agreed in principle that Development Management Committees should commence at 6.30pm. Concern was expressed that it would be necessary for the Chairman to discipline the debate and prevent repetition, so that the earlier start did not in fact result in meetings lasting longer and continuing to extend beyond 10.00pm on a regular basis;
(v) with reference to Schedule B of the agenda, the Solicitor to the Council confirmed that each application must be individually decided and considered. The SIG did agree that Members should be encouraged to confirm to Officers before the meeting whether they want an application on Schedule B to be discussed at the meeting. If no Members thought discussion was necessary the Chairman could introduce the item and the Committee go straight to making a decision without the need for Officers to do a presentation on that item;
(vi) it was agreed that reports should be produced consistently and where possible data on roof heights and foot prints and other key issues be presented (for example in tables); and
(vii) on balance it was agreed by the SIG that the public speaking scheme should be also triggered by five letters of support.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the Executive:-
1. reviews the refinements to the Development Management Committees as proposed by the SIG as outlined above; and
Recommends to the Council that:-
2. Development Management Committees should commence at 6.30pm;
2. the public speaking scheme be amended so that receipt of five letters of support also triggers the public speaking scheme; and
3. the scheme of delegation be amended as set out at paragraph 4 in Annexe 2.
Present at the meeting:-
Mr M W Band
Mr B A Ellis
Mr P Haveron
Mrs S R Jacobs
Mrs P N Mitchell
Mr A Rayner
Mr R C Terry
The following officers were present:-
Mr J Anderson
Mrs S Whitmarsh
Mr R Pellow (part)
Miss M Ghavami
Comms/executive/2006-07/087
