Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Sean O'Neill  01225 395090

Items
No. Item

21.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

22.

EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURE

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out on the Agenda.

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

23.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTION

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Eleanor Jackson, Councillor Nigel Roberts, Deborah Russell and Veronica Packham.

24.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillors Sarah Bevan, Sally Davis and Malcolm Lees declared that they are Members of the Development Control Committee.

25.

TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIR

The Chair will announce any items of urgent business accepted since the agenda was prepared under the Access to Information provisions.

Minutes:

The Chair announced that this would be the last meeting of the Committee to be attended by the current Monitoring Officer, as he was retiring at the end of May. Members thanked him for his support to the Committee.

26.

ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC - TO RECEIVE DEPUTATIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS OR QUESTIONS

Minutes:

There were none.

27.

ITEMS FROM COUNCILLORS AND CO-OPTED AND ADDED MEMBERS RELATING TO THE GENERAL BUSINESS OF THE COMMITTEE

Minutes:

There were none.

28.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 23 OCTOBER 2014 pdf icon PDF 44 KB

Minutes:

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

29.

REVISED PLANNING CODE OF CONDUCT pdf icon PDF 108 KB

Minutes:

The Principal Solicitor presented the report. He explained that the current Code required revision because it was old (dating from 1998) and there had been important changes in the law since it was adopted. The most significant of these was that the courts and the Localism Act had taken a more relaxed view of the role of members of planning committees. It was now understood that members of planning committees did not operate in a vacuum, but were politicians who had been elected to represent their constituents and were entitled to have and express views on matters that affected those they represented. It was therefore recognised that it was proper for members to have a degree of involvement in pre-application discussions, so long as they maintained an open mind when they came to consider the application at committee. The new Code was intended to be simpler than the current Code. It had the twin aims of protecting members by giving them straightforward guidance on avoiding potential pitfalls and of protecting the Council from the possibility of legal challenges.

 

The draft Code would be considered by the Development Control Committee the following week, and presented to the new Council for formal adoption. He invited Members to comment on it.

 

In reply to questions from a Member he stated that:

 

  • the revised Code was based on the model Code of Conduct produced by Lawyers in Local Government

 

  • the revised Code was being submitted now, so close to the Council elections, in order that it would be in place before the new Development Control Committee was nominated after the elections – this would assist with member training

 

Members commented on the draft Code.

 

Page 2 (Agenda page 14)

 

“Fettering of Discretion in the Planning Process”

 

A Member said that many people might be puzzled by the meaning of “fettering” in this context. The Monitoring Officer agreed that it was legalese and should be removed.

 

Page 3 (Agenda page 15) and Page 4 (Agenda page 16)

 

“Do make written notes of any conversations with Applicants, Developers and Objectors and pass them to officers for inclusion on the planning file. The same applies to emails and letters.”

 

A Member said that there was so much lobbying of members of the Development Control Committee that strict compliance with this provision would be very difficult. The Principal Solicitor responded that the draft Code did make a distinction between ‘everyday’” contact and ‘significant’ contact. The Chair, however, pointed out that this provision did say “any conversations” and suggested that this needed to be qualified in some way.

 

 “Don’t agree to any meeting with applicants, developers or groups of objectors without first consulting with officers. Where you feel that a formal meeting would be useful in clarifying issues, you should seek to arrange that meeting yourself through a request to the Group Manager, Development Management who will organise it. He will ensure that an officer attends.”

 

“Don’t attend a planning presentation without requesting an officer to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.