Agenda item

Final Report of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee

This report presents the conclusions of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee following their review of the Council’s approach to planning enforcement and court action.

Decision:

RESOLVED: That the Executive agrees that the recommendations arising from the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny be dealt with as follows:

Scrutiny Recommendation	Executive Decision
1. That the Head of Development Control:
(i)Prioritises new cases/complaints	Agreed
(ii) Shortens the response time to letters sent in relation to breaches of planning regulations, where there is discretion to do so.	Agreed
(iii) Introduces a weekly list detailing new planning enforcement cases, split by Ward.	Agreed
2.That, once trigger points are reached and payment has not been received, Section 106 Agreements are promptly passed to Legal for action.	Agreed
3. That Section 106 Agreements, including the schedule of obligations, be placed on the planning portal under the planning applications to which they relate	Agreed
4. (i) That the expenditure of Section 106 monies be made entirely in accordance with the Councils Financial Regulations	Agreed
(ii) That a regular report be presented to the relevant Planning Committees detailing where Section 106 monies have been spent by the receiving Directorates.	Agreed
5. That Planning Enforcement Officers be issued with:
(i) Necessary mobile communications technology (eg;laptop, mobile phone, PDA, laser rule) subject to the outcome of the pilot scheme to be undertaken by Building Control and to funding being available.	Agreed
(ii) A First Response Kit and any appropriate training to use this.	Agreed
6. That Planning Enforcement Officers be issued with high visibility jackets marked with ‘CYC Planning Enforcement Officer’ and these should be worn at appropriate times.	Agreed
7. That the Head of Development Control make planning staff available to help with planning enforcement when possible	Agreed
8. That the results of the Development Control Internal review be fully communicated to all departmental staff.	Agreed
9. That a copy of the final report of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee be circulated to all Members involved with Planning Committees	Agreed

REASON: To enable the introduction of appropriate measures in response the Scrutiny Committee’s findings and recommendations.

Minutes:

Members considered a report which presented the conclusions of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee following their review of the Council’s approach to planning enforcement and court action.

The final report of the Scrutiny Committee was attached as Annex 1. Their nine recommendations were summarised in paragraph 7 of the covering report, paragraph 10 of which provided details of some additional financial implications highlighted by the Assistant Director of Resources (Finance). Should Members wish to endorse these additional implications, they would be added as an addendum to the final report.

The Chair of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee asked for his thanks to Officers for all they’re hard work during the review, to be recorded.

Having noted the comments of the Shadow Executive on this item, it was

RESOLVED: That the Executive agrees that the recommendations arising from the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny be dealt with as follows:¹

Scrutiny Recommendation	Executive Decision
1. That the Head of Development Control:
(i)Prioritises new cases/complaints	Agreed
(ii) Shortens the response time to letters sent in relation to breaches of planning regulations, where there is discretion to do so.	Agreed
(iii) Introduces a weekly list detailing new planning enforcement cases, split by Ward.	Agreed
2.That, once trigger points are reached and payment has not been received, Section 106 Agreements are promptly passed to Legal for action.	Agreed
3. That Section 106 Agreements, including the schedule of obligations, be placed on the planning portal under the planning applications to which they relate	Agreed
4. (i) That the expenditure of Section 106 monies be made entirely in accordance with the Councils Financial Regulations	Agreed
(ii) That a regular report be presented to the relevant Planning Committees detailing where Section 106 monies have been spent by the receiving Directorates.	Agreed
5. That Planning Enforcement Officers be issued with:
(i) Necessary mobile communications technology (eg;laptop, mobile phone, PDA, laser rule) subject to the outcome of the pilot scheme to be undertaken by Building Control and to funding being available.	Agreed
(ii) A First Response Kit and any appropriate training to use this.	Agreed
6. That Planning Enforcement Officers be issued with high visibility jackets marked with ‘CYC Planning Enforcement Officer’ and these should be worn at appropriate times.	Agreed
7. That the Head of Development Control make planning staff available to help with planning enforcement when possible	Agreed
8. That the results of the Development Control Internal review be fully communicated to all departmental staff.	Agreed
9. That a copy of the final report of the Planning Enforcement Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee be circulated to all Members involved with Planning Committees	Agreed

REASON: To enable the introduction of appropriate measures in response the Scrutiny Committee’s findings and recommendations.

Supporting documents: