Agenda and minutes

To receive and note apologies for absence.

Apologies had been received from Cllr Coles who was substitued by Cllr Whitcroft and Cllr Myers.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

[Please see attached sheet for further guidance for Members].

Members were asked to declare any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, any prejudicial interests or any disclosable pecuniary interests which they may have in respect of business on the agenda.

Cllr Merrett noted that he had a non-prejudicial interest in relation to minute 23. Executive / Scrutiny Protocol for City of York Council as he had participated in work on the Scrutiny protocol as the vice chair of the Council’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on 14 May 2025 and 30 July 2025 and to consider the Committee’s action log.

The Committee discussed the minutes from the 14 May 2025 and 30 July 2025. From the 14 May 2025 minutes Members suggest a clarification in wording relating to emergency planning be added and whether the response to the Committee enquiry about being involved in the review of scrutiny be included. From the 30 July 2025 meeting Members noted that a Ward Boundary Review would not need to be included within the Annual Governance Statement as that would be in this municipal year not 2024/25, instead to add reference to talks relating to a Community Governance Review to be added to the Annual Governance Statement.

The Committee discussed the Action Log it was confirmed that actions 83 was complete, updates would be provided at the next Committee meeting on actions 68, 84, and 85, and action 94 would be added back to the main list of ongoing actions.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 May 2025 and 30 July 2025 be approved and then signed by the Chair as a correct record, subject to the above changes.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the Committee.

Please note that our registration deadlines are set as 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings.  The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5:00pm on Monday 1 September 2025.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form.  If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact Democratic Services.  Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The meeting can be viewed live and on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

It was reported that there had been 5 registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Cllr Vassie raised concerns that proposed changes to the Council’s planning committees would give too much power to unelected officials. He asked whether people expected the planning system would improve by delegating schemes under 40 houses.

Kevin Holland asked that the Committee reject the proposed changes to the Council’s planning committees. He stated that the Committee were not provided with sufficient data to make a decision and stated that they should delay any changes until national policy changes are confirmed.

Johnny Hayes outlined his previous experience on planning committees and with planning applications. He noted that the removal of being able to call in planning applications with a Ward Councillor was a bad idea. He asked the Committee to defer a decision and set up a working group to discuss the proposed changes.

Andy D'Agorne stated he believed the Government and the Council were creating a developer’s charter with less local control over planning. He noted planning applications were improved by going to Planning Committee.

Karim Lalani spoke on behalf of Fulford Parish Council and raised concerns that the proposed changes to planning were too restrictive and worried the impact this would have on heritage assets in the city. He also asked if Parish Councils could be given a guaranteed spot to speak at Committees if an application was within their parish.

The purpose of this report is to present Audit & Governance Committee with an update on the key corporate risks (KCRs) for City of York Council.

Officers introduced the report and requested that they bring KCR 12 Major Incidents forward on the work plan. The Committee noted their concerns relating to KCR1 Financial Pressures, particularly while the Council awaits confirmation of the Fair Funding Review, the Director of Finance noted Members concerns and confirmed that Corporate Scrutiny were currently undertaking a working group on the budget.

Members noted the report on KCR 4 Changing Demographics and enquired about whether the data provided should focus more on the impact of displacing York residents, due to things such as high housing costs. The Corporate Director for Adult Social Care and Integration confirmed they were in the process of refreshing data relating to KCR 4 and would share the updated data set with the Committee.

Resolved:

                         i.         Noted the key corporate risks included at Annex A, summarised at Annex B;

                        ii.         Noted and provide feedback on the in-depth review of KCR 4 (Changing Demographics) at Annex C;

Reason:     To provide assurance that the authority is effectively understanding and managing its key risks.

Audit & Governance Committee are responsible for ensuring effective scrutiny of the treasury management strategy and policies, as stated in the Treasury Management Strategy 2025/26 approved by Full Council on 27 February 2025.

The Director of Finance introduced the report and noted that there had been no new borrowing in Quarter 1 of 2025/26, but that the Council would be borrowing for things such as York Central. She noted that officers would monitor borrowing rates to determine when to borrow and help the Council fill out borrowing maturity costs. It was also confirmed that while the Fair Funding Review might not benefit funding for the Council, the three-year settlement would assist in financial planning for the Council.

Resolved:

                         i.         Noted the Treasury Management Quarter 1 Report and Review of Prudential Indicators 2025/26 at Annex 1.

Reason:     That those responsible for scrutiny and governance arrangements are updated on a regular basis to ensure that those implementing policies and executing transactions have properly fulfilled their responsibilities with regard to delegation and reporting.

The purpose of this report is to provide the updated Contract Procedure Rules for the committee to note, and to provide the proposed constitutional changes to the Planning Committees to the committee for consideration and discussion.

The Director of Governance introduced first the Contract Procedure Rules changes which were presented for noting, prior to consideration at Full Council. The changes to the Contract Procedure Rules themselves it was confirmed were within the delegated powers of the Director of Finance.

The Head of Planning and Development Services then outlined the proposed Planning Committee changes. She noted that the proposed changes would aim to deliver robust planning procedures while speeding up the planning process. It was also confirmed that officers had reviewed procedures at other Councils to ensure the Council would be in line with best practice in its planning procedures. Members asked why the Council was seeking to make changes to its planning procedures prior to Government changes to planning. Officers stated that these changes would ensure the Council addressed a range of issues in its current planning procedures including the Council’s capacity to process applications and provide cost savings to the Council. Officers confirmed that they did not expect these changes to be out of line with Government proposals.

Officers confirmed that currently 96% of all planning applications were considered by Council officers. From March 2024 to March 2025, it was confirmed 54 applications had gone before a Planning Committee, 19 of these were from call-ins with only 4 applications did Members did not approve the officer recommendation for approval or rejection, one of these 4 have since been overturned.

The Committee asked about the proposed exemptions on the ability to call-in planning applications and why these exemptions were being proposed. Officers outlined that they had reviewed the Council’s previous call-ins and proposed exemptions for things that currently were not going to Committee, the proposals would also assist in creating more support to ensure call-ins include clear planning reasons within their proposal. Members also enquired as to why they would not expect to have Reserved Matters applications at Planning Committee. Officers confirmed that Reserved Matters applications could still be called in, however, Committee time would be better focused on outline applications where they would be considering the principles of any development.

Members enquired as to whether due to the proposed changes, if the period for Ward Councillors to call-in an application could be extended to 14 days. Officers and the Executive Member for Housing, Planning and Safer Communities supported this proposed change to the call-in process.

The Committee asked whether the planning process could be sped up by having more items on each committee meeting or more meetings scheduled. Officers noted that large applications were frequently taking as long as five hours at Committee and therefore it was not possible to schedule lots of items on individual meetings. Officers also noted that there would be significant challenges to officer time to try and schedule lots more meetings to meet the Council’s workload and would risk not meeting deadlines relating to applications.

Members enquired as to whether the Council had consulted externally on the proposed changes with Parish Council’s, other organisations, or the public. Officers noted that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

This report presents the Committee with a proposed constitutional change to Article 8 – Scrutiny, to incorporate an Executive / Scrutiny Protocol for City of York Council. The Protocol has been developed as part of work towards fulfilment of the recommendations in respect of the Council’s Scrutiny function agreed by Council in March 2025.

The Director of Governance introduced the report containing proposed revisions to Article 8 of the Council’s Constitution to incorporate the Executive / Scrutiny Protocol for City of York Council. The Committee noted the proposed changes and agreed to recommend them to Full Council.

Recommended:

                  i.         That Council approve the proposed revision to Article 8 of the Council’s Constitution to incorporate the Executive / Scrutiny Protocol for City of York Council.

Reason:  To strengthen the scrutiny function and to fulfil the recommendation endorsed by Council in March 2025 in relation to a refreshed Executive / Scrutiny Protocol.

To consider the committee’s work plan.

The Committee discussed the appointment of a second independent member. The Director of Governance outlined that the last advert put out got no applicants, therefore it would need to go back out to advert and he hoped that an appointment would be in place in early 2026. It was confirmed that the advert would be shared with Committee members when it went live.

Resolved:

                         i.         Noted the Committee work plan.

Reason:     To ensure the Committee maintained a programme of work.