Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: MS Teams

Contact: Emma Perry, Principal Committee Co-ordinator 

Note: Webcast: use the link on the agenda front sheet or paste the following into your browser https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MmMyMDRkMGEtMzIxMy00NmM3LWExMjAtZDI2Y2Y2MzFkZTdj%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%226ddfa760-8cd5-44a8-8e48-d8ca487731c3%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22515ca3a4-dc98-4c16-9d83-85d643583e43%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d 

Items
No. Item

1.

FILMING AT MEETINGS

Please note this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method.  Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.  By entering the ‘meeting room’, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

 

The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual, or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

 

 

Minutes:

The Chair referred to the notice of filming at meetings and this information was noted.

2.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Peter Mitchell and Councillor Justin Hinchcliffe. It was noted that Councillor Liz Morris was in attendance as a substitute for Councillor Justin Hinchcliffe.

3.

Urgent business pdf icon PDF 287 KB

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 8 below.

Minutes:

The Chair noted that there was one item of urgent business which related to Revised Committee Membership. It was explained that the report for this urgent business had been circulated and published in a supplementary agenda pack in advance of the meeting.

 

It was confirmed that Councillor Sheila Peacock was replacing Councillor Daniel Stone on the Planning Sub-Committee and Councillor Daniel Stone was replacing Councillor Yvonne Say on Licensing Sub-Committee B. It was highlighted that the report asked the Regulatory Committee ‘to appoint Councillor Stone to Licensing Sub-Committee B, replacing Councillor Sheila Peacock’, but that this should state ‘replacing Councillor Yvonne Say’.

 

It was also noted that each Licensing Sub-Committee had three members and that three members were required to attend for the meeting to be quorate. The Democratic Services Manager explained that all Regulatory Committee members were trained in licensing and could be appointed as substitutes if required.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    To agree the appointment of Councillor Sheila Peacock to the Planning Sub-Committee, replacing Councillor Daniel Stone.

 

2.    To agree the appointment of Councillor Daniel Stone to Licensing Sub-Committee B, replacing Councillor Yvonne Say.

4.

Declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

 

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

 

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

 

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

5.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 291 KB

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 2, 5 and 29 October 2020.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Ross noted that he had asked a question about life expectancy at the Regulatory Committee meeting on 5 October 2020; he explained that the Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) stated that life expectancy rates in Haringey were increasing but he believed that this was incorrect and they were decreasing. The Chair noted that an answer would be requested outside of the meeting.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the Special Regulatory Committee meeting held on 2 October 2020, the minutes of the Regulatory Committee meeting held on 5 October 2020, and the minutes of the Regulatory Committee meeting held on 29 October 2020 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

6.

Planning Services 2020/21 Quarter 3 Update pdf icon PDF 569 KB

A report on the work of the Planning Service during October to December 2020.

 

Minutes:

Rob Krzyszowski, Interim Assistant Director Planning, Building Standards & Sustainability, introduced the report which provided an update from Planning Services in relation to Quarter 3 of 2020-21.

 

Robbie McNaugher, Development Management Team Manager, provided an update in relation to Development Management. It was noted that performance remained high and 100% of major applications (14 in total) had been decided, which was an increase from the previous year. It was stated that there had been an increase in income as a result of efforts to better train and equip officers to offer relevant services. It was explained that the Council was required to meet various standards of performance which were set by the government; for the majority of these standards, the Council was performing well. It was noted that, in relation to overturns of refusals (officer and committee) on major applications on appeal, the Council determined a relatively low number of major applications which meant that not many appeals needed to be lost before the threshold was met. It was commented that the threshold required this figure to be below 10; the Council was currently at 8.7% and one further lost case would surpass the threshold. It was added that there were two major appeals pending. It was also noted that there had been 54 enforcement notices and an increase in complaints which was likely caused by the increased number of people staying at home and having more time to report due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Members of the Committee raised the following matters:

·         It was enquired whether the Council had started preparing its case, given that this would be required if the Council lost one of the outstanding major applications on appeal. The Development Management Team Manager noted that this issue was being monitored and officers were in contact with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG); officers were confident that a response could be provided within a two week period if required. 

·         It was enquired when Conservation Area training would be provided for members. It was noted that this was currently not scheduled. The Chair stated that members had a number of training requests and that it may be useful for members to prioritise these requests.

·         Members noted that it would be helpful if future versions of this report were re-formatted to include: a consistent number of previous years’ data for all matters, the presentation of all outcomes, a demonstration of how figures were calculated, and ordering similar matters together. It was explained that this would assist the Committee in understanding whether there were improvements or deteriorations. The Interim Assistant Director Planning, Building Standards & Sustainability thanked the Committee for this feedback and noted that the information could be presented in a more tabular form to enable comparisons.

·         In relation to enforcement, it was commented that some letters contained a contact email address and some did not; it was stated that all letters should contain the same information. It was also noted that, when the Enforcement Team  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Information report responding to Member comments in the Review of Member Allowances that Regulatory Committee should be formally reconstituted as two separate committees - a Planning Committee and a Licensing Committee pdf icon PDF 413 KB

Report to Follow

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager introduced the report which sought the views of the Regulatory Committee in relation to member comments in the review of member allowances in 2019-20 which suggested that the Regulatory Committee should be formally reconstituted as two separate committees – a Planning Committee and a Licensing Committee. It was explained that this had been considered by the Standards Committee in November 2020 and the merits and disadvantages of this option were discussed. The discussion at the Standards Committee meeting had focused on licensing and it had been enquired whether it was possible to have one Licensing Sub-Committee, rather than two, in order to reduce costs. It was noted that the Standards Committee would be further considering this issue at its meeting on 25 January 2021 and was seeking the views of the Regulatory Committee.

 

The Democratic Services Manager noted that most boroughs in London had separate committees for planning and licensing, with a separate committee to consider other planning functions. It was explained that the report outlined four options in relation to the structure for planning and licensing functions and the Regulatory Committee was asked to comment on these options. It was commented that, if any changes were requested and put forward by the Standards Committee, they would be presented to the annual Council meeting in May 2021.

 

Members of the Committee raised the following matters:

·         The Regulatory Committee currently discussed more planning issues than licensing issues; it would be useful either to receive service updates at the Regulatory Committee or to have a separate Licensing Committee that could focus on licensing issues.

·         The Regulatory Committee provided important feedback on planning and licensing issues and this had resulted in positive changes, such as the introduction of apprentices in Building Control; there were concerns that this role would be lost if the Regulatory Committee was divided into a Planning Committee and a Licensing Committee.

·         It was considered that any changes should aim to reduce the workload of councillors who were currently attending a lot of meetings of the Regulatory Committee, Planning Sub-Committee, and Licensing Sub-Committee.

·         It was noted that Regulatory Committee was the only committee where a Vice-Chair received a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) and that it was useful to have consistency. It was also noted that, if the Regulatory Committee was divided, there would still be the same number of SRAs – the Planning Committee Chair would receive the same SRA as the Regulatory Committee Chair and the Licensing Committee Chair would receive the same SRA as the Regulatory Committee Vice-Chair.

·         Generally, the Committee believed that it would be easier to have one Planning Committee that considered planning applications and matters of planning policy and one Licensing Committee that considered licensing applications, matters of licensing policy, and the statutory licensing functions. It was suggested that policy and statutory issues could be considered quarterly by each committee. Some members expressed concerns that this may not result in a reduced workload for councillors.

·         It was considered that it would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

New items of urgent business

To consider any new items of urgent business admitted under agenda item 2 above.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

9.

Dates of future meetings

The date of the next meeting has been moved to 25 February 2021.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next Regulatory Committee meeting was scheduled for 1 March 2021; this had been moved from 25 February 2021 to allow the meeting to take place before Cabinet.