To enable Council to consider proposed amendments to the Members’ Planning Code & Protocol following a review carried out by the Standards Committee and consideration by the Cabinet.

Council considered a joint report of the Monitoring Officer and the Cabinet (A.3) which enabled Council to consider proposed amendments to the Members’ Planning Code & Protocol following a review carried out by the Standards Committee and consideration by the Cabinet.

It was reported that the Standards Committee, at its meeting held on 5 February 2025 (Minute 34 referred), had considered a report of the Monitoring Officer (A.1) which had presented the updated revised version of the Planning Probity Protocol, following consultation with the members of the Planning Committee, the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning, Planning Officers and the Independent Persons.

It had been reported that some themes emerging from the consultation were:

-    the concept of Bias needed to be stronger.

-    stronger links to the Members’ Code of Conduct, declarations of interest and the impact of participation at meetings.

-    importance of seeking advice earlier.

-    a determination should be made as to which Planning Applications submitted by Officers of the Council in their personal capacity should be submitted to the Planning Committee for determination i.e. Senior Officers above a certain grade and all Officers employed within Planning Services and Legal Services.

-    the importance of Member Training needed to be stressed within the Planning Probity Protocol.

-    stronger details needed around Planning Committee Members attending public meetings with applicants, developers and objectors, and

-    site visits section needed to be stronger relating to the exceptional circumstances.

Members had been made aware that the outcome of the consultation had been set out in detail in Appendix B of the Officer report. In addition, it had been considered necessary to include some text around the Protocol on Member and Officer Relations, as that had been omitted in the first review and was relevant.

It had been RESOLVED that the Standards Committee –

(a)   notes the outcome of the consultation with the members of the Planning Committee, the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning, Planning Officers and the Independent Persons;

(b)   endorses the revised Planning Probity Protocol (subject to tracked changes being accepted as well as the typing errors being amended) and recommends to Full Council that it be adopted and incorporated into the Council’s Constitution;

(c)   subject to (b) includes an additional recommendation to Full Council that the Planning Committee’s Terms of Reference be amended to reflect the proposed seniority of Officers and all Officers within Planning and Legal Services personal planning applications to be referred to the Planning Committee; and

(d)   subject to Full Council’s approval of the Planning Probity Protocol, that training on the Protocol forms part of the Mandatory Training as required by Council Procedure Rule 33.3 for Members of the Planning Committee.

Resolutions (b), (c) and (d) above were pertinent to the joint report (A.3).

The Cabinet, at its meeting held on 17 March 2025 (Minute 143 referred), had considered the recommendations put forward by the Standards Committee.

Cabinet had decided to recommend to Full Council that:-

(1)   the revised Planning Probity Protocol be adopted and incorporated into the Council’s Constitution;

(2)   the Planning Committee’s Terms of Reference be amended to reflect that personal planning applications submitted by the proposed seniority level of Officers plus all Officers within Planning and Legal Services will be referred to the Planning Committee; and

(3)   training on the Planning Probity Protocol forms part of the Mandatory Training as required by Council Procedure Rule 33.3 for Members of the Planning Committee.

The revised Planning Probity Protocol was attached as the Appendix to the joint report (A.3).

Councillors M E Stephenson, Bray, Griffiths and Baker spoke during the debate on this matter.

Having considered the joint report:-

It was moved by Councillor M E Stephenson, seconded by Councillor Baker and:-

RESOLVED that Council approves that –

(1)     the revised Planning Probity Protocol be adopted and incorporated into the Council’s Constitution;

(2)     the Planning Committee’s Terms of Reference be amended to reflect that personal planning applications submitted by the proposed seniority level of Officers plus all Officers within Planning and Legal Services will be referred to the Planning Committee; and

(3)   training on the Planning Probity Protocol forms part of the Mandatory Training as required by Council Procedure Rule 33.3 for Members of the Planning Committee.