Agenda item

Any Other Business that the Chairman considers urgent

Minutes:

Requests for Dispensation under the Localism Act 2011

At the Chairman’s agreement, a late report of the Town Clerk regarding a Member requesting a dispensation to speak and vote was tabled.

 

The Chairman gave Members a ten minute recess to read the report and accompanying application.

 

The Deputy Chairman withdrew from the meeting for the consideration of this item.

 

The Chairman reminded the Committee that the Member had previously been granted a dispensation by the Dispensations Sub Committee to speak only on planning application 17/00770/FULL (former Richard Cloudesley School) at Planning and Transportation Committee on 26 March 2018 or subsequent meetings where the planning application is discussed. The Chairman clarified that the application was now being brought back to the Planning and Transportation Committee in relation to the discharge of a condition. The application before Members was to both speak and vote on this matter at the Planning and Transportation Committee meeting on 29 January 2019  or subsequent meetings where this was to be discussed. He questioned whether the dispensation already granted to the Member in March 2018 was sufficient to cover this new request.

 

The Comptroller and City Solicitor stated that, he would have had some sympathy with this argument if it had been advanced by Ms Pearson. However, she had chosen to submit a fresh application and was presumably making a distinction between discussions around the original grant of planning permission and the discharge of conditions. The Standards Committee should generally assume that any dispensation sought was required in order to facilitate participation, and determine the application on its merits.

 

The Chairman stated that he did, however, feel that the previous decision in March 2018 set a significant precedent. He also queried the status of the new dispensations policy and guidance. The Comptroller and City Solicitor explained that although this was not yet in force, it had been approved in principle by the Standards Committee and therefore it would be reasonable to take the contents of that document into account when reaching a decision.

 

The Committee went on to discuss the proximity of the Members’ residence to the site in question. It was the view of the Committee that this would mean that Ms Pearson would be disproportionately affected versus a number of other residents on the same estate.

 

Members were content to follow the precedent set here and grant a dispensation for Ms Pearson to, again, speak only on the discharge of the condition at the 29 January meeting and any subsequent meeting of the Planning and Transportation Committee at which that matter was discussed. It was generally accepted that it was important to allow her to do so in order to represent resident’s views. The Committee were not, however, able to identify that there was sufficient justification for granting a dispensation for her to vote on this matter. 

 

RESOLVED – That, Susan Pearson be granted a dispensation to speak only on the discharge of condition 5 of planning permission dated 19th July 2018 (planning reference 17/00770/FULL) for the redevelopment of the former site of Richard Cloudesley School for the Planning and Transportation Committee meeting on 29th January 2019 or subsequent meeting when the Planning Application is discussed.