Agenda item

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Growth & Regeneration, which set out the findings of an internal review of the current Scheme of Delegation (SoD) in relation to planning matters and to request that Members consider amending the SoD in line with the concluding recommendations. If the Planning Committee were minded to support the proposed changes, the matter would be advanced to the Councillors Commission and then Full Council.  The current SoD formed part of the Council’s Constitution and set out a set of criteria for committee and officer decisions.

The reason for the review was due to a number of factors.

Ø  The SoD was last updated in July 2018. It was best practice to review this from time to time and it made sense to do this early into the new Council’s administrative term.

Ø  Also of importance was to see if there was scope to reduce the size and frequency of agendas (and the length of time that these meetings last) thereby reducing Member time and officer resources.  More importantly by reducing agenda sizes it would help focus attention on the more complex and strategic applications as well as improving the (perceived) quality of decision making, particularly towards the end of long committee meetings.

Ø  Furthermore, reducing the number of planning matters that needed to be reported to the Planning Committee should assist in helping to meet the stretched internal performance targets introduced in the Newark and Sherwood District Council Community Plan (adopted 2019) which aspired that 90% of all applications should be determined within a specified target date, as opposed to current national performance targets of 60%, 65% and 80% depending on the type of application.

Ø  There was a number of application types that the SoD did not currently capture which needed to be rectified, such as the new ‘Planning in Principle’ and ‘Technical Details Consent’ application type.

The report detailed the existing committee arrangements and scheme of delegation for Newark and Sherwood District Council; the existing committee arrangements and scheme of delegation at other authorities.  The types of applications being considered by Newark and Sherwood District Council and the reasons why applications were considered were also detailed.

The report detailed six options as follows:

Option 1 - Minor Dwellings to be delegated contrary to Parish/Town Council regardless of the professional recommendation.

Option 2 - Minor Dwellings to be delegated Contrary to Parish/Town Council where officer recommendation is for refusal only

Option 3 - Member Call In/Referral Powers

Option 4 - Possible Change to Householder Call-In

Option 5 - Applications to Vary or Remove Planning Conditions not automatically determined by Committee

Option 6 - Major Applications where Parish/Town Council Support Contrary to Recommendation

The Chairman informed the Committee that the reason for the review was because the Council had approved the Community Plan and there was an aspiration that 90% of planning applications be determined in the stipulated date.

A Member commented that he disagreed with the report and that Planning Committee should take place during a full day and the call in procedure should be changed in order for the Councillor who called in the application to be present to speak at the Planning Committee.  The Chairman commented that many Members of the Council would not be able to attend full days and Members needed to respect that.

A Member commented that planning variation needed to be addressed and planning enforcement should be tightened by supporting the planning enforcement officers.

A Member further commented that she had contacted her Parish Council to receive their views on the proposed changes and confirmed that the Parish Clerk and Vice-Chairman were in support of the proposed changes.

A Member commented that the recently appointed Growth & Regeneration Business Manager should be involved in this process and submit her ideas.  It was also proposed that the planning reports could be reduced in size to save officer time.

A Member asked whether public speaking would be introduced in the future.  The Chairman confirmed that consideration could be given to this however if public speaking was allowed the agenda would need to be reduced further. 

A Member commented that the Town and Parish Council’s should be encouraged regarding their right to attend and speak at Planning Committee.

The Director of Growth & Regeneration confirmed that additional resources would be provided for enforcement in terms of the change to the enforcement structure.  Temporary resources were also reported to be in place.  He also confirmed that the recently appointed Business Manager had read the report and would submit her comments to future meetings.

AGREED           (unanimously) that the attached proposed revisions to the SoD are                         noted.