Issue - meetings

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at item 12 below.

The Chair advised of an item of urgent business, namely a report referring to the decision made by the Committee on 7 October regarding 10-27 Connaught House, Connaught Gardens N10 3HL. The Committee had resolved to grant permission for the application subject to conditions and subject to a s106 legal agreement and had passed a motion to add a s106 legal agreement claw back clause. Officers had advised at the time that this action did not meet the policy or statutory tests for planning obligations, that the scheme was policy compliant regarding the affordable housing contribution, that there was no policy basis for seeking additional funds and that the clause was unfeasible. Following the decision, the Council had sought Counsel’s written advice which confirmed the earlier advice given and advised that the Committee must not vote in favour of any resolution that would involve the Council making an unlawful decision to grant planning permission. The advice directed the Committee to remove the requirement to include the claw back clause in the planning obligation through rescinding the decisions made on 7 October regarding the application and to determine the application for planning permission. It was confirmed that a complete re-hearing of the application would not be necessary.

The Committee were advised that the Planning Service had reconsidered the original application following the meeting and had determined that the affordable housing contribution should be revised from £171717 to £254541 to take into account the additional floorspace to be provided in the existing units. In response to a question, it was confirmed that this miscalculation had been made in error and, irrespective of the urgency report, would have required the application to be reconsidered by the Committee. It was advised that Cllrs Gunes and Akwasi-Ayisi could vote to rescind the decision but not determining the application having not been in attendance at the Committee on 7 October.

Concerns were expressed over the costs incurred by the Council in seeking Counsel advice for this matter, to which the Legal Officer confirmed that there had been no other way of dealing with the issue and that the Council would have had to incur costs in any event should the original decision have stood.

Cllr Bevan expressed concern over a decision of the Committee being changed in this way and that Members had been told in the past that it was permissible for the Committee as the decision making body to go against officer recommendations. He felt that as an elected Councillor representing his constituents, he was entitled to raise the issue of affordable housing provision as one of the most significant concerns for residents of the borough. He requested that future planning application reports include options for the imposition of a claw back clause where sale prices were in excess of those expected. Officers confirmed that because the application was policy compliant, a claw back clause could not be used without revisiting the current policy.

The Chair moved the recommendations of the report and it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8