Agenda and minutes

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillors Gunes and Carroll.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. Late items will be dealt with under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at item 6 below.

There were no items of urgent business.

None declared.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 9 September.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 September 2014 be approved as a correct record of the proceedings.

The Chair referred to a matter which had been raised by Councillor Bevan at the previous meeting of the Committee, where he had expressed concern over cigarette marketing units which operated when large concerts were held in Finsbury Park, and had asked for feedback on whether the Licensing Team could prohibit them as part of the licensing process for future meetings.   The Chair read out the following response from Dale Barrett, Interim Regulatory Service Manager: ‘No we cannot restrict them.  We can certainly ask the promoters to consider not allocating space to them as a gesture of good will to the borough’s healthy living plan, but we cannot force them I’m afraid’.   Councillor Bevan felt that this was an unsatisfactory situation and that some sort of action should be taken, and for this reason the Chair undertook to write to Dale Barrett further on the matter, and to copy Councillor Bevan into the message.

To update on Development Management and Planning Enforcement performance for quarter 2 and October 2014/15.

The Committee considered a report detailing the performance on Development Management and Planning Enforcement for quarter 2 and October 2014/15.  Emma Williamson, Head of Development Management and Enforcement, informed the Committee that the number of major, minor and other applications determined by Haringey Council in the second quarter of 2014/15, together with October and November, was 1,496.

In response to a question regarding the staffing of the Enforcement Team, Emma Williamson stated that the Team was currently fully staffed, and that it was intended to discuss enforcement priorities with councillors in January 2015.

It was noted that the monitoring report submitted to the next meeting of the Regulatory Committee would also include a section on Building Control Performance and that this would then be reported alongside Development Management and Planning Enforcement on an ongoing basis.

In regard to planning appeals, it was reported that the Planning Inspectorate had issued decisions on 30 appeals in quarter 2 and only three of these had been allowed (14%) with one split decision. The majority of these had decided via the written representations route although there was one informal hearing.   It was then reported that a delegated refusal of a major scheme at Ermine Road and Plevna Crescent, a residential scheme for 98 units, on a Site of Nature Conservation Importance was due to be heard at a Public Inquiry in March 2015.

Emma Williamson continued by reporting on the performance relating to enforcement action and associated appeals, and concluded by referring to prosecution action.

In response to a request from a member of the Committee, Emma Williamson made a commitment to look into the feasibility of including a list of, and information relating to, applications refused by the Planning Sub-Committee in an annual report on planning matters that would be produced and submitted to the Planning Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

a)    Unauthorised Living in Industrial/Employment Areas

The Committee were updated by the Head of Development Management and Enforcement on a multi-disciplinary approach which was being undertaken to tackle unauthorised living in employment areas, particularly in South Tottenham.  It was reported that a number of enforcement notices had been issued, with three enforcement appeals pending at two sites, and that in addition, six appeals against the Notices at five sites had been determined with four dismissed and two allowed.  The Committee noted that extensive research on sites was ongoing in the eastern area involving the planning enforcement and building control teams.   The western area had seen one of the main landowners submit a masterplan and the Planning Policy Team were involved with regard to updating the strategic sites allocation document.

b)   Support for Small Scale Developers, Custom and Self-builders

Emma Williamson, Head of Development Management and Enforcement, reported that the Minister of State for Housing and Planning had recently made a statement relating to the planning system and further new measures which were being implemented by the Government to support small-scale developers.  The Government’s measures centred around Section 106 obligations imposed on small scale developers, custom and self-builders; promoting custom and self-build housing, and getting empty and redundant land and property back into use.

The Head of Development Management and Enforcement stated that a briefing note from Council officers on the ministerial statement would be circulated to councillors in the near future.

3 March 2015.

The Committee noted that its next meeting was scheduled for 3 March 2015 at 7.00pm.