Agenda and minutes

To elect a chairman for the meeting.

Agreed that Councillor Colling would chair the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Group. (attached)

            RESOLVED:

That the notes of the meeting held on 26 February 2009 be agreed as a  correct record.

Councillor Sandler has raised this item for discussion.

The group discussed how officers from Development Control and Building Control could find a procedure or action to pick up discrepancies in plans for the same development that are submitted separately for planning permission and building regulations approval.

Cllr Wagland made clear that the onus was firmly on the applicant/his or her agent to ensure that this is done. Officers confirmed that both the Planning and Building Control decision notices made clear that planning permission did not give any other consent and vice-versa. If plans were to be checked by officers, then this will need further resourcing and would not capture in all cases as plans for building regulation purposes often contained more information and detailing (and therefore a different agent producing the plans) compared with those submitted at the planning application stage.

Noted that Officers will look at ways to scrutinise plans at validation stage, but also noted that Building Control didn’t inspect all building works carried out, because use external Approved Inspectors and therefore cannot capture all checking of plans.

(a)        Pre-application Briefings (note 2(1))

Agreed:

·                Noted the need to agree a method of dealing with these type of briefings

·                Members to use the officer contacts if issues arise at Parish Meetings

·                Officers to place item in the Members Bulletin advising on process

·                An appropriate item be placed on Area Planning Subcommittee agenda.

·                Members to flag items up from weekly planning list.

(b)        Online Plans (note 2(2))

Agreed:

New Business Manager to consider how links to online plans could be added to Area Planning Subcommittee agreed items.

(c)        Defending Refusals at Appeal (Note 4)

Councillor Colling indicated a wish to see more balanced planning application reports without recommendations. N Richardson’s view was that in most cases this wasn’t appropriate and meant that officers were not seen to be giving members professional advice.  Officers had attempted to improve reports by making them more analytical.

(d)        Decision Making at Meetings (Note 5)

Agreed:

·                Chairmen be reminded of the need to declare themselves as voting at the beginning of each meeting

·                Consideration to be given to Constitutional position if Area Subcommittee Chairman and vice-chairman not able to be present.

Members to raise any other matter of business

Members raised the queries on recent sites/issues as follows:

Councillor P Brooks indicated that there was confusion about Certificates of Lawfulness. N Richardson responded that it should be clear from the form whether each one was retrospective or just proposed.

Councillor M Colling stated that the recent Gaynes Park application minute hadn’t reflected the requirement for the mansion building to be completed. S Solon indicated that the requirement was contained within the Section 106 agreement.

Councillor M Colling stated that a recent report on an application at the Old Rectory, Theydon Mount hadn’t mentioned a recent appeal. J Shingler responded that the appeal should have been in the history section of the report but the appeal had related to house not the railings.

Councillor M Colling asked if officers were being vigilant on the McCathy and Stone development in Epping. S Solon replied that they were as it generated regular complaints from residents.

Agreed to hold the next meeting in the early part of 2010. (January or February)