Issue - meetings

To enable the Cabinet to consider the recommendations submitted to it by the Resources and Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee following the scrutiny of the Council’s planning enforcement function by the Task and Finish Working Group on Planning Enforcement.

RESOLVED that the recommendations made by the Resources and Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee be considered and that the response of the Planning Portfolio Holder thereto be endorsed.

Cabinet considered the recommendations submitted to it by the Resources and

Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee following that Committee’s scrutiny of the

Council’s Planning Enforcement Policy.

That Committee had recommended  Cabinet -

a)    “To note that, in recent months, following the establishment of the Working Group and the introduction of a new Planning Manager and a new Planning Enforcement Team Leader, and with the full cooperation of the Planning Portfolio Holder and key Officers, notable improvements in the Council’s planning enforcement function have already been made in response to issues raised and suggestions put forward. These include:

·  the update and subsequent adoption of a new Planning Enforcement Policy and associated harm risk assessment to replace the previous version that had not been reviewed or updated since 2010;

·  an initial review, update and tidying of the Council’s database of live enforcement cases to remove cases that have been closed, incorrectly recorded or otherwise superseded by events in order to establish a more accurate baseline of information;

·  more positive engagement of Planning and Planning Enforcement Officers in the Council’s Corporate Enforcement and Operation Enforcement Groups to improve working across services on a wide range of enforcement matters;

·         a notable improvement in the willingness of Officers to engage and communicate with Councillors, members of the public and other interested parties in recognition of the concerns raised previously;

·         a notable reduction in the Planning Enforcement Team’s reliance on the Council’s legal Officers for advice and assistance in carrying out planning enforcement duties; and 

·  a concerted effort to recruit new Officers to the Planning Enforcement Team on a permanent basis and by utilising channels to attract ex Police and armed services personnel with relevant transferable skills.

b)     to act to retain the planning enforcement function in-house and to support continued efforts to reduce the Council’s reliance on temporary staff employed through agencies and to recruit permanent staff to the Planning Enforcement Team  by utilising channels aimed at targeting ex Police and armed forces personnel with transferable skills and with the offer of on-the-job training and development;  

c)    To require Officers to undertake a specific and immediate update to the Planning Enforcement Policy and associated harm risk assessment to incorporate changes, that are aimed at improving clarity, relevance and effectiveness and for the updated version to be reported to the Planning Committee for its consideration and approval at the earliest meeting practicable;   

d)    To thereafter require Officers to undertake an automatic review of the Planning Enforcement Policy and associated risk harm assessment every four years for the Planning Committee’s consideration and approval to ensure it is kept up to date and responds accordingly to changes in law, policy, circumstances and trends in enforcement-related activity – allowing for earlier reviews where necessary;

e)    To empower the Director of Planning, in consultation with the Chairman of the Planning Committee and the Monitoring Officer, to escalate and expedite (as appropriate) enforcement action where there are considered to be exceptional matters of public interest with implications for the reputation of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8