Agenda item

Local Plans Sub-Committee

A Member recognised that this came under the work of the Grand Committee but noted that they were not now scheduled to meet until January 2023. The Member referred to the recent cancellation of Local Plans Sub-Committee meetings for the remainder of 2022 in order to enable Officers to work up the engagement strategy around this. However, there were now some concerns as to the time delay and Members being able to see and comment upon this Strategy ahead of it being finalised and in between meetings.

Aa a more general point, the Member questioned whether matters relating to the work of the grand Committee could also be raised at this Sub-Committee given that it was now set to meet much more frequently. The Deputy Chairman stated that he would also appreciate some clarity on this point. The Comptroller and City Solicitor stated that questions here should really be related to the work of this Sub-Committee as stipulated on the agenda. It could, however, be at the Chair’s discretion to alter this for time critical matters although it was suggested that these could equally be dealt with in writing or via email in between scheduled Grand Committee meetings.

With regard to a further comment as to the frequency of meetings now proposed for the Grand Committee, the Town Clerk reported that this matter was entirely within the hands of the Committee and the Chairman and that if they were of view, in due course, that quarterly meetings were not sufficient, this could be added to or revisited as necessary.

Reporting on Discharged Conditions

The Chairman highlighted that this matter had been raised with him on a few occasions by another Committee member who had questioned how these matters were reported on once they had been discharged. He stated that he felt that it would be helpful for Officers to include this information within the weekly summary distributed to the full Court. Officers stated that they would be happy to action this and would also continue to include within the agenda papers for Planning and Transportation Committee meetings.

A Member questioned whether the website featured a list of conditions attached to individual planning applications alongside information as to when these were discharged for the public to consult. The Planning and Development Director reported that whenever a condition was discharged this was made clear on the website however he recognised that this might require the public to plough through the paperwork in relation to a given application as, at present, a summary sheet detailing this did not exist. The Member commented that this did exist for other Local Authorities and questioned whether a suitable solution could be found here. Officers added that when planning history was searched for on the website the planning permission featured alongside a list of conditions that had been discharged on that same page but it was accepted that this could possibly be more helpfully summarised going forward.