Issue - meetings

To consider the latest version of the Cabinet Forward Plan for approval.

The Leader advised that the latest Cabinet Forward Plan had been published on the Council’s website.

The Leader advised that the latest Cabinet Forward Plan had been published on the Council’s website.

The Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning addressed the Cabinet in respect of the BCP Statement of Community Involvement:

“Members of Cabinet following the Council decision to adopt the BCP Statement of Community Involvement with an amendment to require neighbour notification letters to be sent out for planning applications across the BCP local planning authority area I need to raise some concerns over the financial, environmental and operational implications of this decision. These are as follows:

·         Whilst fully respecting the need to publicise planning applications openly and transparently, the proposal to notify by site notice only had been carefully considered as being the best approach for the Council in view of the current financial and practical restrictions resulting from the ongoing pandemic. It is surprising that the amendment was not raised previously when it was being considered by O&S and then Cabinet.

·         The decision at Council to re-introduce letters now needs further consideration in terms of the financial impacts before implementation. As set out in the Council papers, going to a system of site notices would have realised a saving of circa £14k to £18k from reduction in postage, paper and ink costs that had been factored in to this year’s Covid-19 financial budget response, which can no longer be taken and therefore needs to be acknowledged as a pressure. Adding the requirement to send letters in Bournemouth after over 20 years of using site notices will likely create an additional pressure of around £10k per annum. Taken together and with the Council’s current financial pressures, there is no available funding in the existing planning budgets to pay for the additional costs arising from the decision and additional funding will need to be made available.

·         There is also the issue of the extra officer time involved by having to send letters out in Bournemouth. Staff resources are already severely stretched and in the absence of employing additional staff to send out the letter, this the process will have to be absorbed into existing officer time at present. This will likely mean other activities in the planning department will be slowed down by having to allocate more staff time to producing and sending out letters. There will also be a greater requirement to have staff in the office to produce letters at a time when the Government is telling us to work from home more. A resource and process plan is needed in order to ensure letters can be sent out without impacting on current service.

·         The Council has declared a climate emergency and the reduction in use of letters would have had an environmental benefit by reducing materials used, so a re-appraisal of environmental impact alongside financial and operational issues should be undertaken.

For the aforementioned reasons, it is advised that the Council’s decision is referred for further detailed consideration at the next Cabinet meeting before the SCI is effected with an updated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 244