Agenda item

To receive an update on the key areas of work within the Planning and Control Executive Portfolio over the past twelve months.

The Committee received a report summarising Council’s work over the past twelve months which was encompassed by the Planning and Control Executive Portfolio; a portfolio which covered Planning Policy and Conservation, Development Management, Drainage, Building Control, Land Charges and Planning Enforcement.  Key areas of work over the past twelve months had included:

·         Completion of the Draft Local Plan: Preferred Options Regulation 18 consultation

·         Ongoing work to identify suitable site for Gypsy and Travellers and Travelling Showpeople as part of the Local Plan development.

·         The Development Management Team had defended 36 planning appeals in 2021/22 of which 28 were dismissed and 14 appeals in the first quarter of 2022/23 of which 13 were dismissed.

·         The Development Management Service was in the process of implementing the recommendations arising from a review of the service by the Planning Advisory Service including a restructure of the team to enable processes to be streamlined, build resilience into the section and enable planning officers to spend more time focusing on determining planning applications.  Improvements had also been made to the pre-application process and regular training sessions on development management matters for Councillors were now being scheduled.

·         The Building Control Service had processed 718 applications, delivered enforcement activity on 55 sites, attended 21 dangerous structures and carried out 5,586 site inspections.

The Committee was informed that if it was not possible to identify sufficient numbers of sites Gypsy and Traveller pitches then there was a significant risk that the Local Plan would be found to be unsound at the Examination stage.  Consequently it was incumbent on all Councillors to work with officers to try and identify potential sites across all wards in the Borough.

It was noted that all sites proposed were assessed for their suitability and detailed records setting out why a site was unsuitable were kept.  These records would be used at Examination stage to demonstrate that every effort had been made to identify appropriate numbers of pitch sites.

It was clarified that officers did try and ensure that developers provided as much affordable housing as possible however there was no requirement for affordable housing in prior approval and smaller development sites and viability assessments frequently resulted in a reduction in the amount of affordable housing being provided on larger developments.

The Committee was reminded that all planning applications were determined on their individual merits and in line with relevant legislation.  Where planning appeals were lost then the learning from these was examined and were relevant applied to future applications.

It was confirmed that whilst the Council had employed an officer to deal solely with ensuring proactive compliance with planning applications due to staff shortages the officer had temporarily been tasked with more general enforcement work.  As soon as the Enforcement Team was fully resourced then they would return to the original compliance work.

It was agreed that concerns about Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed would be followed up outside the meeting.

The Committee thanked all the officers involved in the recent Local Plan public consultation work.

The Committee noted the report.