12. Planning and Licensing Committees PDF 82 KB
To consider a recommendation from the Audit & Governance Committee.
Additional documents:
13 Planning and Licensing Committees PDF 159 KB
To receive a report by Jonathan Mair, Director Legal and Democratic.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Director of Legal and Democratic
Services and Monitoring Officer presented the report to consider the proposed amendments
to the Officer Scheme of Delegation for referring planning applications to the
planning committees. Also, to recommend
to full council the renaming of the Licensing Committee as the Licensing and
Gambling Acts Committee and create a separate General Licensing Committee with
the same members.
The Head of Planning
addressed the committee with regard to recommendation
2 within the report and the potential increase in applications that would go to
the planning committees. It was
suggested and supported by the
Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer that this
recommendation was excluded and taken away for further thought.
Members made comments
regarding the aging aspects of local plans, the cost implications of additional
pressure on committees and officer time and were in agreement
to set recommendation 2 aside. It was
felt that the number of trivial applications on council land that came to
committee was a waste of resources.
Cllr Flower put forward
a proposal that the recommendations (with the exception of
no. 2), be recommended to Full Council subject to the deletion of “in
consultation with the relevant ward members” (P172 of the agenda) as this was
duplication.
Recommendation:
1. That Full Council is asked
to amend the Officer Scheme of Delegation in the Constitution to change the
process for determining which planning applications are referred to the
planning committees (as shown with tracked changes in Appendix 1);
2. That Full
Council is asked to amend the Protocol for Members and Officers on Planning
Procedures in the Constitution by amending paragraph 8.2 as set out Appendix 1;
3. That any changes
to the Officer Scheme of Delegation take effect on 25 July 2024;
4. That Full
Council agrees to amend the Constitution by renaming the Licensing Committee as
the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee, creating a separate General
Licensing Committee and substituting Articles 8.28 and 8.29 of the Constitution
with new Articles 8.28-8.31 as set out in Appendix 2;
5. That the Chair,
Vice-Chair and other Members of the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee are
also appointed to the General Licensing Committee;
6. That
sub-committees of the two licensing committees can be formed as and when needed
from the membership of the relevant licensing committee.