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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Phoenix Chambers, Phoenix House, Tiverton

Contact: David Parker  Member Services Officer

Link: audio recording

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN (03:17)

To elect a Vice Chairman for the municipal year 2023/2024.

Minutes:

Cllr G Westcott was duly elected Vice Chairman of Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2023-2024

 

(Proposed by Cllr B Holdman, seconded by Cllr S Robinson)

 

2.

START TIME OF MEETINGS (05:06)

To consider the start times of meetings for the municipal year 2023 – 2024.

Minutes:

It was agreed that the committee meet at 5:30pm for the remainder of the municipal year.

 

(Proposed by Cllr B Holdman, seconded by Cllr L G J Kennedy).

 

3.

APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS (06:20)

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of substitute Members (if any).

Minutes:

No apologies were received.   Cllr L Taylor, Cllr J Buczkowski, Cllr S Clist, Cllr G Duchesne,  Cllr A Glover, Cllr L Knight and Cllr J Wright attended the meeting virtually.

 

Cllr Mrs F J Colthorpe confirmed that she was the permanent member of the Scrutiny Committee in place of Cllr S J Penny.

4.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST UNDER THE CODE OF CONDUCT (06:45)

To record any interests on agenda matters.

 

Minutes:

Members were reminded of the need to make declarations where appropriate.

5.

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME (07:04) pdf icon PDF 276 KB

To receive any questions relating to items on the agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

 

Note:   A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Barry Warren’s questions related to Item 9 on the agenda; on the subject of Review Recommendations of the Planning Enforcement Working Group. It was asked:

 

1.    Would this committee please take that whole document, now rather than later, and see where we were now as it was submitted in September 2021?

 

2.    Were members aware of a paper I prepared on the 16th of April 2023 whilst Leader of the Council and submitted to the then Chair of Scrutiny to address the failings?

 

3.    Would the committee please note that Recommendation 8, to rewrite the Local Enforcement Plan has not been actioned to date and so Council are working from a plan that is over 5 years old?

 

4.    Would the committee please note that Recommendation 6 was to form a sub group of the Planning Committee to oversee Planning Enforcement. That was not implemented thereby denying elected members the opportunity to oversee planning enforcement in an open and transparent manner?  Officers decided that the Cabinet Member for Continuous Improvement could deal with this.  No such Cabinet post exists under the current administration. Would you please look at putting a process in place which will give the public some confidence in our Planning Enforcement activities which are considered by those most affected to be ineffective and toothless?

 

5.    Would the committee note that staffing levels were recommended and some work was carried out to move toward that?  Since this new administration has been in place the staff numbers dedicated to Planning Enforcement has reduced back to levels pre the 2021 report.  Why?

 

6.    If looking at this currently would the committee consider any working group co-opting a member or members of the public who have experience of the problems and concerns to assist members?

 

In reply the Chairman said that these were historic issues, a new administration is just getting going and was work in progress. The Scrutiny Committee would be looking at vacancies and the moratorium on recruitment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Elstone asked in relation to Item 9 – The Scrutiny Workplan 2023-2024 and the 3 Rivers Independent Authority review:

 

1.    It is clear from the Work Programme that your own 3 Rivers investigation is dependent on receiving the results of other investigations. The urgent, but wide-ranging, Cabinet investigation into 3 Rivers was supposed to have reported by now. What is the date when it is expected that this full and historic investigation into 3 Rivers, including the Council’s handling of the commercial relationship and related reporting, will be completed?

 

2.    Council Officers have only just announced a 3 Rivers bad debt of over £5.2 million.  In view of this, would Scrutiny Committee consider widening the scope of your Scrutiny investigation, in the Work Programme, so that it is not limited to the processing of the Business Plan?

 

 

3.    Allegations have been raised relating to serious ethical and business conduct failings, including involving Council Officers and Members, in the whole matter of 3 Rivers. In the light of this, why  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING (18:11) pdf icon PDF 128 KB

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 17 April 2023.

 

The Committee is reminded that only those members of the Committee present at the previous meeting should vote and, in doing so, should be influenced only by seeking to ensure that the minutes are an accurate record.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 17April 2023 were NOTED. The minutes were amended to show that Cllr B Warren had attended the meeting on 17th April via Zoom.

 

7.

DECISIONS OF THE CABINET (18:44)

To consider any decisions made by the Cabinet at its last meeting that have been called-in.

Minutes:

No decisions of the Cabinet were called in.

8.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS (18:53)

To receive any announcements that the Chairman of Scrutiny Committee may wish to make.

Minutes:

The Nolan Principles would apply on all occasions and we would not want to revisit some of the unpleasantness of the old administration.

 

9.

WORK PROGRAMME (19:12) pdf icon PDF 185 KB

To review the existing work programme and consider items for the committee’s future consideration taking account of

a.     Any items within the forward plan for discussion at the next meeting

b.     The update from the policy research officer on existing projects and forthcoming matters

c.     Suggestions of other work for the committee in 2023-24

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

a)       Motion 583 - Protecting Rivers and Seas work, making sure that Planning Development on large developments work with South West Water (SWW) on planning infrastructure was working effectively relating to sewage and so on is appropriate, continues.

It was agreed that the Committee receive clarity on what this motion was meant to do. There were two areas that the motion seeks to deal with; a) inviting further information from SWW to state the current loads on their infrastructure and how this would be affected by new development so that that may have significance for planning decisions, b) SWW had been invited and had attended to give a presentation to the Scrutiny Committee about their future investment plans. . The Committee requested the background journey of the motion that led to the SWW presentation, the Clerk will look for the information. The Committee would like to talk with the Environment Agency. Have SWW provided the information they were asked to provide? Is there a Data Controller? Do they have a plan – is it effective? The Clerk will review all of the requests and look at the previous minutes. This will all be put into a document to be discussed at a future meeting.

 

b)  Review recommendations of the Planning Enforcement Working Group.

In response to the public questions, it was agreed that background of the working group along with their final report and officer updates should be provided in a new report to the July meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

 

c)       Motion 564 – Inclusivity and Community Engagement – does Local Government work for women? Work needs to be continued. Some recommendations had been approved by the Scrutiny Committee and Full Council but they still need to be finalised.

 

It was discussed that it would assist the committee by having an updated report on this matter for the July committee. It was agreed to review whether there is a crossover with the Community PDG. It was also agreed to move from the Increases to members allowance here to look at how to encourage greater diversity at local elections.

 

d)     3 Rivers – It was discussed that the review needs to look at the whole 3 Rivers history as well as looking forward at 3 Rivers future. It was agreed that this will come back to Scrutiny once the two external reports are received.

 

e)     Increases to members allowances. – It was confirmed that there had been an Independent Review Panel (IRP) and the matter had gone to full Council. This was not a matter for the Scrutiny Committee. The Deputy Chief Executive (S.151) was asked whether increases to member’s allowance was included within the budget? He replied that the matter of member’s allowances is taken from the IRP. The Deputy Chief Executive (S.151) said that this council had a history of following the recommendations of the IRP. With regard to the overarching budget, reports would go to the PDG’s in November. Cabinet receives a report just before then  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.