Issue - meetings

The Overview and Scrutiny Board, at its last meeting, considered a request from a member of the Public regarding BCP Council’s Planning Committee Structure. The Board agreed to consider this matter further and is placed on this agenda for consideration at this meeting.

The request was accompanied by a consultant’s report commissioned by local Parish Councils which is attached to this agenda for further consideration.

The relevant Cabinet Members Councillor Philip Broadhead, Portfolio Holder for Development, Growth and Regeneration and Councillor Bobbie Dove, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Regulatory Services have been invited to attend the meeting for consideration of this item.

Following a request by a member of the public for an item of scrutiny to be placed on the Board’s agenda in relation to the Planning Committee Structure the Board agreed to place this on the Boards Forward Plan and the Chairman had agreed to add this to the agenda for this meeting.

The Chairman of the Board invited, the parish Councils’ representative Chairman of Highcliffe & Walkford Parish Council, who was acting at the request of, Christchurch Town Council, Hurn Parish Council, Burton Parish Council and Throop & Holdenhurst Parish Council, to address the Board and outline the issues which they wanted the Board to consider.

The representative explained that they felt that BCP Council should operate the Planning function as three separate area-based committees rather than one single committee. It was outlined that there was a lack of confidence in the system by many which was why the local parish councils had become involved in the situation. There was no confidence that the Councillors on the Planning Committee would appreciate and understand the nuances of planning in the different areas of the conurbation. They believed that public confidence would increase if the Council operated with three, area-based committees as opposed to the single committee model.

The Chairman invited the Head of Planning to respond to the points raised. The Board was advised that they understood the concerns and issues raised by the parish councils within the report but from their perspective the current planning committee was operating very effectively and that there hadn’t been any issues of the wrong decisions being made. Councillors applied the appropriate policies within the different areas. It was no considered that this was the most appropriate time to raise this as there were many other issues in the service at present. This was also previously considered less than 12 months ago but was potentially something to monitor

There was a need to approach this in an evidenced based way. The statement in the report that there was a democratic deficit in the current planning system was not evidenced. However, the Planning Committee shouldn’t stand still but should consider opportunities. The current operations were efficient and cost effective. Multiple committees were in the minority across the country and were generally in Council’s which covered a large geographical area. A key risk in moving to a multiple committee model would be a need to ensure consistency.  Servicing a committee was time and resource intensive. There was nothing within the report which indicated that a shared or multiple committee system would be more efficient or engaging than the current arrangement.

The Chairman also invited a Ward Councillor for the Commons Ward to address the Committee who advised that public confidence was the absolute key to effective town planning. Making decisions which the public had faith in required local knowledge. Many local residents did not have this confidence in this current system. Councillors needed to use local knowledge to understand that what may be acceptable in one area of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 120

In line with the Council’s constitution, the Overview and Scrutiny Board is asked to consider a request that has been received for scrutiny of the following issue:

·       BCP Council’s Planning Committee Structure

Any councillor or member of the public may request that a matter be scrutinised, and the Board must decide whether to include it into the Forward Plan for scrutiny at a future date.

The attached report and appendices are provided to aid deliberations on whether the topic should join the Board’s Forward Plan.

In line with the Council’s constitution, the Overview and Scrutiny Board was asked to consider a request that had been received for scrutiny of an issue. 

The Chairman of the Board invited Mr Bob Hutchings, Chairman of Highcliffe and Walkford Parish Council to make a brief statement

The Chairman of the Board reminded members that at this point, the Board’s role was only to determine whether or not this request should be added to the forward plan, not to discuss the merits of its subject area.

In his address to the Board, Mr Hutchings explained that a report had been commissioned and supplied by the Chairman of Highcliffe and Walkford Town Council, on behalf of the five town and parish councils across the conurbation with the ambition of bringing three separate planning committees across the conurbation to allow planning decisions to be more “locally”, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Comments from Members included:

• This should go on the Board’s Forward Plan, but should not be considered by the Board until January 2022 to ensure that no constitutional rules are broken.
• There was no need to consider this item as it had already been discussed by this council twice and had subsequently been rejected.
• There should be the opportunity to review processes on a regular basis.

Upon being put to the vote, it was:

RESOLVED that the Board add this item to its forward plan

Following the resolution being carried, the Chairman highlighted that he was minded group this item with other items relating to Planning due to be considered at the Board’s next meeting, although he would discuss this separately with the Vice-Chair outside of the meeting.

The Chairman thanked Mr Hutchings for his contribution and informed him that he would be notified as and when a decision was made on the timing.