Agenda item

The report of the Chief Planning Officer provides assurance that the Council’s arrangements for dealing with and determining planning and enforcement matters are up to date, fit for purpose, effectively communicated and routinely complied with.

The annual assurance report of the Chief Planning Officer provided assurances in relation to planning decision making and enforcement arrangements as required by the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee.

The Chief Planning Officer presented the report and highlighted the following points:

·  The first part of the report set out the policy and procedural aspects in relation to planning and described the framework for decision-making. Leeds has in place up to date and adopted development plans which enables the Council to make decisions in accordance with those plans. There is a live programme of updating the plans which are already underway.

·  The report clarifies the process of approval through the Chief Officer delegation scheme and the sub-delegation scheme. The delegation schemes are constantly reviewed to ensure there are clear lines of responsibility and changes to legislation.

·  The report also provided information on the Plans Panels decision making process and the defined categories for applications to be referred to Plans Panels. It was noted that the service receives over 7,000 applications per annum, with officers making 99% of all decisions.

·  Paragraph 8 of the report sets out the planning enforcement process as set out in the Local Enforcement Plan, which has a range of measures and interventions which seeks to be proportionate in taking enforcement activity.

·  The democratic oversight is provided through a comprehensive list of Member briefings, panels, boards, information provision as well as oversight from the Council’s Corporate Leadership Team. There is also officer and Member training and learning materials in line with service systems and protocols.

·  Paragraphs 22 of the report set out the services commitment to continuously improve and streamline the service to respond to the Council’s challenging budget position. A number of business improvements have been made to the management of third-party comments, Consultee Access for parish and town councils, Public Speaking Protocol at plans panels.

·  Members were informed that the overall number of complaints had reduced, and the number complaints had decreased.

·  Paragraph 32 of the report provided information on performance and monitoring across the service.

·  The report also highlighted changes made to the service in relation to planning reform, budget pressures and resourcing levels.

·  It was noted that application levels had dropped to pre-pandemic levels, but performance management remained challenging due to changes of planning reform and resourcing. Members were advised that enforcement action was a priority for the service and Leeds takes more action than comparable core cities. However, the number of cases received remains high.

·  Paragraph 47 of the report set out opportunities for enhancement of the systems of internal control for development management and enforcement activity to be implemented over 2024/25.

In response to questions from the Committee the following information was provided:

·  The service is moving forward with procedures and protocols in relation to safety of Members and officers at Plans Panels and this should be available within the month. Members were provided with examples of issues at Plans Panels in recent months which had highlighted the need for this type of awareness training. The Chair provided her observations at the Plans Panel she sits on and the behaviours of members of the public using threatening behaviour towards officers and said that she would not support that type of behaviour and that it should be taken seriously for everybody. She supported the efforts and measures being put in place for the security of officers and Members.

·  It was recognised that this issue of safety was not just limited to meetings held within Civic Hall but also to meetings held outside particularly with Members who are out in the community and interacting with individuals.

·  In relation to enforcement the service was trying to ensure a consistent approach to communications on the local enforcement plan and was key to the overall framework that the service works to. It was acknowledged that when planning legislation changes this can affect the measures for permitted development and the cases are often historical. One of the improvements listed was around clearly communicating changes to planning legislation and there will be Member training on this aspect. The service will also be looking at using various ways to communicate this to the public. It was noted that there are two teams of enforcement in the service dealing with different areas in the city and there is close collaboration between the team leaders with case officers sharing experience of cases at team meetings on a regular basis. Cllr Robinson said that whenever he has had to have dealings with the officers, they have always been hardworking and diligent and when there has been behaviour that has been untoward it has been handled in a professional manner.

·  In relation to Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) it was noted that information would be provided to Members on the policy criteria set out in the Core Strategy. Members requested statistics and instructions around the Council’s policy in relation to HMOs. It was noted that there is information on the Leeds City Council website in relation to HMOs. 

RESOLVED - To consider and note the positive assurances provided in this report and future steps to provide additional assurance in the process.