Issue - meetings

That (A) the revised Planning Enforcement Plan be endorsed;

(B)     changes to the delegation to Officers in relation to the serving of Enforcement and related notices be made as set out in paragraphs 2.4 - 2.5 of the report submitted;

(C)    new PIs and targets be established for the service for the 2016/17 year onwards as set out in paragraphs 2.8 – 2.11 of this report; and

(D)    a business case to establish if further resources should be provided to enable the implementation of pro-active site monitoring be submitted to a future Executive meeting.

The Executive considered a report detailing the outcome of a review of the Planning Enforcement Policy by a Task and Finish Group set up by the Environment Scrutiny Committee. 

At the invitation of the Leader, Councillor T Page, the Chairman of the Task and Finish Group, summarised its deliberations and highlighted the main conclusions detailed in the report submitted.  He also corrected the paragraph numbers quoted in the recommendations proposed.  Finally, Councillor T Page thanked Members and Officers for their support in the work of the Task and Finish Group.

The Executive welcomed the report and also thanked Members and Officers for their efforts.

In respect of the proposed general delegation to Officers to issue all enforcement and general notices, Councillor D Andrews suggested that the local Member should also be kept informed.

In response to a question from the Leader, the Chief Executive suggested that the business case to establish if further resources should be provided to enable the implementation of pro-active site monitoring could be submitted to the Executive within three or four months.

The Executive approved the proposals as now detailed.

RESOLVED - that (A) the revised Planning Enforcement Plan be endorsed;

(B)      changes to the delegation to Officers in relation to the serving of Enforcement and related notices be made as set out in paragraphs 2.4 - 2.5 of the report submitted;

(C)      new PIs and targets be established for the service for the 2016/17 year onwards as set out in paragraphs 2.8 – 2.11 of the report submitted; and

(D)      a business case to establish if further resources should be provided to enable the implementation of pro-active site monitoring be submitted to a future Executive meeting.

The Chairman of the Planning Enforcement Review Task and Finish Group submitted a report following the outcome of their review of Planning Enforcement Policy.  The Head of Planning and Building Control summarised the report.

In response to a query from Councillor K Crofton regarding monitoring the service of enforcement and related notices, the Head of Planning and Building Control explained how the process would work.  Councillors L Haysey and S Rutland-Barsby thanked the Chairman of the Panel, Councillor T Page and Officers for their thorough and helpful review of the process.

Councillor K Crofton queried how matters reported anonymously were treated and suggested deleting Parish/Town Councils from the process.  Councillor D Andrews also expressed concern regarding the inclusion of Parish Councils in the process on the basis that they might be “too close” to the case and some, were not duly elected.  The Head of Planning and Building Control explained that such situations occurred infrequently and why it was important to include Parish/Town Councils when matters of concern were reported anonymously. 

The Committee received the report and supported the recommendation now detailed. 

RESOLVED – that the Executive be advised that (A) the revised Planning Enforcement Policy be supported;

(B)   Officers’ delegated powers in relation to the service of enforcement and related notices be changed;

(C)  performance indicators dealing with initial site inspections be changed so that 100% of all urgent cases should be dealt with within two days and 90% of all other cases should be dealt with within 15 working days; and

(D)   a business case be submitted to the Executive if necessary, to enable the implementation of pro-active site monitoring.