To consider a report of the Chief Planning Officer updating the Board on the Planning Enforcement Service.
Minutes:
Referring to Minute 108 of the meeting held on 21st April 2009, the Chief Planning Officer submitted a report updating the Board on the Planning Enforcement Service.
The following officers were in attendance and responded to Members’ queries and comments:-
Phil Crabtree, Chief Planning Officer, City Development
Martin Sellens, Head of Planning Services, City Development
Jim Wigginton, Planning Compliance Manager, City Development
In summary, specific reference was made to the following issues:-
(The Chief Planning Officer responded that plain English was used in correspondence, where ever possible, however from time to time technical language was unavoidable particularly with regard to legal definitions )
(The Planning Compliance Manager responded and commented that this would be provided through the case liaison meetings that have been trialled and which were to be arranged with all Ward Councillors over the coming months)
(The Head of Planning Services agreed to discuss the possibility of introducing a process map with colleagues which would also be accessible through the Council's internet site)
(The Head of Planning Services responded and confirmed that this would require robust enforcement in the 2010 letting season and adequate resourcing.)
(The Head of Planning Services responded and confirmed that Leeds compared favourably with other Core Cities on enforcement, but that a budget deficit of £800,000 on planning fees meant the department was having to look at alternative sources of funding. They would shortly be asking Area Committees to consider pooling resources to employ a dedicated enforcement officer for their areas to provide a more proactive service that would help reduce the backlog of cases and enable issues specific to those areas to be tackled more effectively. The Chief Planning Officer confirmed that with on costs an enforcement officer would cost in the region of £40k )
(The Chief Planning Officer and the Planning Compliance Manager responded and gave a brief outline of the restrictions imposed for submitting repeat planning applications, together with the statutory and non statutory definitions of ‘harm’)
(The Chief Planning Officer responded and confirmed that in the case of the demolition of Elmfield school, no breech of planning control was involved and so no action could have been taken in that instance. Enforcement Officers would continue to monitor and visit sensitive sites with regular reports back to Elected Members)
(The Planning Compliance Manager responded and confirmed that, (i) subject to determining that the evidential and public interest tests supported the action proposed, the cost of taking prosecution action was not a factor in deciding whether or not to proceed and (ii) costs awarded by the courts were subject to challenge and, if not paid, had to be recovered by the Council and so the Council may receive less than the headline figure in some cases)
(The Head of Planning Services responded and outlined the current arrangements)
(The Planning Compliance Manager and the Head of Planning Services responded and outlined that joint training had taken place involving Planning Services/Building Control/Streetscene Services and Legal Services. They accepted that more joint training could be provided in this important area)
RESOLVED –
a) That the content of the report be noted.
b) That this Board endorses the approach set out in Section 6.0 of the report to take forward measures to establish a clear set of priorities for taking enforcement actions and to establish a programme for dealing with the backlog of cases, utilising all available resources to assist in the process.
c) That this Board endorses the approach being made to the Area Committees to seek funding for additional resources for planning enforcement to address current case loads.
d) To note the arrangements being made to extend the case liaison meetings to all Ward Councillors which would include details of all enforcement cases in progress within their wards.
(Councillor N Taggart joined the meeting at 10.30am during discussions of the above item)
Supporting documents: