Agenda and minutes

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that Councillor A.W. Jones be appointed Chair for the meeting

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S.L. Davies, W.R.A. Davies, T. Devichand and J. Thomas, and from Councillor T.J. Jones Executive Board Member for Environmental and Public Protection

There were no declarations of prohibited party whips.

The Chair advised that no public questions on notice had been received

The Committee, in accordance with minute 5.4 of its meeting held on the 14^th September, 2015 received for consideration a progress report on the implementation of the Community Scrutiny Committee’s Task and Finish Review of Planning Enforcement.

The Development Management Manager reminded the Committee that the purpose of the report was to provide it with an update on both the actions agreed as part of the Action Plan and the recommendations arising from its meeting in September 2015. He referred specifically to recommendation 18 on the establishment of the Corporate Multi-Disciplinary Enforcement Group, and reported that following its inaugural meeting on the 14^th March, 2016 consideration was being afforded to the processes to be adopted for taking forward some of the recommendations within the action plan, which included the following:-.

-        examining issues arising from anti social behaviour for example, the impact of high hedges and how that impacted across departments

-        Corporate Enforcement Policy and the delegation arrangements to Officers,

-        Derelict Properties

-        The development of a protocol with Dyfed Powys Police and other agencies for the purposes of sharing information.

The following issues/questions were raised during consideration of the report.

·        In response to a question on recommendation 1 relating to the provision of a members briefing, the Head of Planning advised that due to the introduction of secondary legislation by the Welsh Government on the new Planning Bill, it had been considered expedient to postpone the proposed December 2015 target date for the briefing in order to incorporate updates on the recent legislation. Arrangements would therefore be made for the briefing to be provided at a later date.

·        Reference was made to the enforcement of unauthorised building works and what action was available to the Council, other than issuing a stop notice, to secure the cessation of those works.

The Development Management Manager advised that the first course of action would be to encourage a developer to cease all works on site and to apply for retrospective planning consent. As a Local Planning Authority, the Council, in addressing unauthorised development, had to adhere to planning legislation and if it were to issue a Stop Notice, and subsequently grant planning consent, it could leave itself open to a potential challenge. In all cases the issue of a Stop Notice was considered to be the last course of action. If, a developer were to choose to ignore requests to cease work, other than via a formal stop notice, the risks associated therewith rested solely with the developer. However, all applications, whether normal, or retrospective, would have to be considered on their planning merits. 

·        In response to a question on recommendation 8 on the publication of a plain language guide on enforcement protocol for elected members and the public, the Head of Planning advised that the protocol was currently being updated to reflect the secondary legislation issued by the Welsh Government on the 16^th March on the new Planning Bill. Whilst the guide would primarily be available  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on the 14^th September, 2015 be received.