Agenda and minutes

At this point, members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were asked to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests  they might have in the business on the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee held on 4 February 2009.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 2009 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chair.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is  at 5.00 pm on Tuesday 3 March 2009.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Councils Public Participation Scheme on general issues within the remit of the Sub-Committee

Members are asked to consider the Final Draft Report of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee.

Consideration was given to the draft final report of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee and the recommendations, which had arisen from the Committee’s review.

The Scrutiny Officer highlighted paragraphs 40 to 43 of the draft final report  that suggested the option of gathering further information, prior to the Committee making their final recommendations. Members were advised that if they chose to do this, then the draft final report would require changes. Should Members feel that they needed more information, a request for a time extension would need to be submitted to the Scrutiny Management Committee.

Members considered the draft recommendations and suggested some minor amendments to be made to them in terms of wording. These would be reported back to the Committee when the draft final report was presented to them at their May meeting.

Members agreed that they required the following further information to complete the review:

• A briefing note regarding the pilot scheme currently  being run by Building Control
• A briefing note regarding the possible use of the Land Charges Register to assist with planning enforcement cases.
• A briefing note regarding in which circumstances Members could be used as witnesses in planning enforcement cases.

Members also agreed that further clarity was needed regarding the outstanding recommendations from the ‘Powers of Enforcement Take Aways’ Review and this would be included in the next report to Committee.

RESOLVED:(i)         That briefing notes be prepared for the next meeting in

                                     relation to the following:

(ii)               That a report be prepared for Scrutiny Management Committee requesting a time extension to this review.²

(iii)             That the timetable for completing the review be as follows:

REASON:                  To ensure compliance with scrutiny procedures and protocols and work plans.