Agenda item

Arising from a report of the Chief Executive, the Scrutiny Committee has made the following recommendation: that the following be NOTED:

a)       The Head of Planning & Regeneration bring forward the Local Enforcement Plan for Cabinet to consider as a matter of priority to set the framework for enforcement activity at MDDC.

b)       The Head of Planning & Regeneration ensures that staff within the enforcement service are invested in through additional training to help provide them with the necessary confidence about sharing information with members (with reference to Data Protection Act constraints).

c)       The Head of Planning & Regeneration take steps to appoint additional resource specifically into the enforcement team to clear any real or perceived backlog, and that consideration be given to the merits of operating this service as a discrete entity to share knowledge, expertise and resource (as opposed to the current area-based model).

d)        The Head of Planning & Regeneration ensures that ‘Part II’ reports were only ever brought as an exception in order to maintain transparency as far as Data Protection rules allow.

e)        The Chief Executive, in conjunction with the Head of Planning & Regeneration and the Head of Communities & Governance, consider setting a target for the processing and completion of S106 agreements.

f)         The Head of Communities & Governance considers reviewing (in conjunction with the Head of Planning & Regeneration) whether the current legal expertise available in-house was appropriate to process planning matters swiftly, and to take steps to re-provision this as opportunity permits.

g)        The Cabinet Member for Planning & Regeneration considers a report investigating the introduction of S106 Monitoring Fees in order to adequately resource the level of required activity.

h)       The Chief Executive considers the value of instructing Internal Audit to look at this area before the end of 2016/17 in order to explore further opportunities for service improvement and efficiency.

i)         That local performance indicators for the enforcement service were set and were reported quarterly to the Planning Committee.

j)         That Members were provided with a suite of reports on planning enforcement cases on a monthly basis, and were reported to Planning Committee quarterly.

k)        That the Planning Committee considers the level of delegation that exists in relation to enforcement activity.

l)         Officers investigate the possibility of finding a way of updating residents and town/parish councils in relation to complaints regarding enforcement and report back to this Committee within 4 months.

Arising from a report of the Chief Executive, the Scrutiny Committee had made the following recommendation: that the following be NOTED:

a)       The Head of Planning & Regeneration bring forward the Local Enforcement Plan for Cabinet to consider as a matter of priority to set the framework for enforcement activity at MDDC.

b)       The Head of Planning & Regeneration ensures that staff within the enforcement service are invested in through additional training to help provide them with the necessary confidence about sharing information with members (with reference to Data Protection Act constraints).

c)       The Head of Planning & Regeneration take steps to appoint additional resource specifically into the enforcement team to clear any real or perceived backlog, and that consideration be given to the merits of operating this service as a discrete entity to share knowledge, expertise and resource (as opposed to the current area-based model).

d)        The Head of Planning & Regeneration ensures that ‘Part II’ reports were only ever brought as an exception in order to maintain transparency as far as Data Protection rules allow.

e)        The Chief Executive, in conjunction with the Head of Planning & Regeneration and the Head of Communities & Governance, consider setting a target for the processing and completion of S106 agreements.

f)         The Head of Communities & Governance considers reviewing (in conjunction with the Head of Planning & Regeneration) whether the current legal expertise available in-house was appropriate to process planning matters swiftly, and to take steps to re-provision this as opportunity permits.

g)        The Cabinet Member for Planning & Regeneration considers a report investigating the introduction of S106 Monitoring Fees in order to adequately resource the level of required activity.

h)       The Chief Executive considers the value of instructing Internal Audit to look at this area before the end of 2016/17 in order to explore further opportunities for service improvement and efficiency.

i)         That local performance indicators for the enforcement service were set and were reported quarterly to the Planning Committee.

j)         That Members were provided with a suite of reports on planning enforcement cases on a monthly basis, and were reported to Planning Committee quarterly.

k)        That the Planning Committee considers the level of delegation that exists in relation to enforcement activity.

l)         Officers investigate the possibility of finding a way of updating residents and town/parish councils in relation to complaints regarding enforcement and report back to this Committee within 4 months.

The Chief Executive explained that he had been asked by the Scrutiny Committee to investigate the efficacy and effectiveness of the Planning Service with particular reference to the way in which enforcement was carried out and how Members were engaged with the work of the Council in this area.

The Chairman of Scrutiny stated that the report had been welcomed by the Committee.

Reference was made to the need for Ward Members to be kept involved with regard to enforcement cases.

RESOLVED that the recommendations from the Scrutiny Committee be NOTED.

(Proposed by Cllr R J Chesterton and seconded by Cllr R L Stanley)

Note: - *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.