Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk detailing the Committee’s outstanding actions.

Barbican and Golden Lane Conservation Area SPD

A Member noted that there would now be a further delay in this document being presented to the Committee. The Town Clerk reported that the further delay was to allow for sufficient time for consultation to take place with the Barbican Centre Board, the Barbican Residential Committee and the Barbican Residents Consultation Committee. Consultation would also take place with Golden Lane Estate residents and this was being facilitated by a Member of this Committee.

A Member questioned whether it might also be possible to include Tudor Rose Court Residents Association in the consultation process. The Member facilitating the Golden Lane consultation stated that she was very happy to include Tudor Rose Court residents in a forthcoming Zoom meeting that she was organising on this matter if this was considered appropriate. The Chair thanked the Member for all of her work on this.

Member Training

The Town Clerk reported that a six month training schedule would be circulated to the Committee at the conclusion of this meeting.

A Member commented that the Planning Protocol examined today effectively created a requirement for Members of this Committee to undertake training both on appointment and periodically thereafter. She questioned whether it was still customary for new Members of the Committee to receive this and noted that this matter had been on the outstanding actions list for over a year now. The Chair reported that he personally met with all new Members of the Committee upon appointment and had discussed with them their training requirements.

The Town Clerk  reported that, in addition to the training schedule which had now been produced for all members of the Committee, all newly appointed members were invited to meet with not only the Chair but also with the Chief Planning Officer and the Director of the Built Environment to discuss any key issues. The Town Clerk recognised that there was scope for improvement in terms of the training offered for Members of this Committee and that this was what Members should now see going forward. The Member responded that it would be preferable to have a more formal arrangement in place for the training of newly appointed Members as was the case with the Licensing Committee. This training should also be documented so that the Committee were able to clearly uphold the principles of its Planning Protocol.

Another Member stated that she had not been offered formal training or the opportunity to meet informally with Chief Officers since joining the Committee. She added that informal arrangements such as these also placed a lot of pressure on new Members to identify any gaps in their own knowledge. The Member went on to question why the training schedule had not been brought to the Committee today as set out within the Outstanding Actions list as she felt that this was something that should be published. If some Members felt that they did not require certain training then a short statement from them setting out that they had assessed their own competencies and did not feel it appropriate to attend should be sufficient and transparent.