Issue - meetings

To approve the Call In Procedure and Site Inspection Protocol which will apply to the Strategic Planning Board/Planning Committees.    

To promote open and transparent decision making, Members of the authority would be able to request that planning applications which would be dealt with by officers under delegated powers could be called before a Committee.  The process by which this was proposed to be facilitated was submitted to the Strategic Planning Board for consideration.  A number of minor corrections to the protocol would be required; which officers undertook to complete prior to publication.    

A second document; which would govern the procedure which would apply to site inspections was also submitted for consideration; paragraph 1.3 suggesting that, as a rule, inspections would be arranged for the Friday prior to meetings of the three Committees.  The Strategic Planning Board considered that this was too restrictive and that the date and time of site inspections should be agreed by the Chairman of the Strategic Planning Board and the Planning Committees.      

The following amendments were also proposed –

§               Paragraph 1.7 Final sentence to read “Transport will be provided as appropriate”

§               The word three to be changed to four in paragraph 1.2.1

§               Clarification be included under paragraph c) to ensure that a right of audience applied to parish councils 

RESOLVED: That

a)         The Call In Procedure appended to the report be approved and adopted with immediate effect for applications to be determined from 1 April 2009; and           

b)         The Site Inspection Protocol appended to the report be approved and adopted subject to the above amendments with effect from 1 April 2009.