Agenda and minutes

(Assistant to the Chief Executive)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

None reported.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

None reported.

Attached.

Noted subject to the inclusion of ‘Councillor Mrs P Richardson’ in the list of Members present.

Attached.

Noted.

To consider the attached.

The Panel is reminded that this is work in progress.

At its last meeting the Panel expressed a wish to update the above Plan. The Panel received a copy of the latest version covering the period 2001 – to 2007 which was very much work in progress.  The Panel considered this information and made a number of comments.

(a)            Development Control - report provided a 10 year overview of performance 

Costs Analysis for Development Control – Key Information  Pg 21 - 24

Agreed: R Sharp to add to this revised estimates for this and next year. 

Cost Estimates of Planning Services - Pg 34

This table compared the costs of this Authority against those of other Authorities.  

The Panel suggested that this should specify the number of application dealt with per Council.

The Panel expressed a wish to gain further information on 1-2 Authorities within this family and also data on Authorities outside this family. The Councils should cover areas of a similar character to Epping Forest.

Agreed that further information be gained on Mid Sussex, Three Rivers and also East Herts.

It was suggested that this detail the number of planning application dealt with per Authority and their turnaround times for applications. This should also provide some background information on their Forward Planning Services.  Action: J Preston to take this forward and report findings back to the next meeting.

J Preston reported on his attendance at meetings of the Essex Planning Officers Association. During which there was reference to benchmarking arrangements. The Panel might wish to give further consideration to these arrangements. 

(b)            Staffing (pg 18) Work load of officers – Panel requested more specific data on case loads per officer etc/ man hours per case. The Panel stressed the value of the inclusion of this data on the software.

(c)            Procedures/IT system (pg 16). Terraquest was currently undertaking a further review of these matters. Noted the need to review impact of the new IT system.

Action: J Preston to approach IT suppliers to arrange presentation for next meeting.

Applications Fees - the Panel noted the costs to the Council of major cases and the cost of minor applications. Reference was also made to the cost of external consultants. The Panel considered the need to review this?

Councillor Frankel requested clarification of some of the phrases in the plan (Application to Income Charge pg 34). He agreed to reconsider the statistics and flag up any unclear phrases for submission to R Sharp for clarification.

Action: Councillor Frankel to report back to R Sharp.

(d)    Further Information

In relation to Development Control, the Panel requested:

• A break down of the process form ‘start to finish’ – explanation of the three categories of planning applications (major, minor and other);

• Implications of a three weekly cycle for the Area Planning Sub – Committees;

• Information on the Legal Processes and Procedures?

(e)            Consultation

The Panel also agreed to canvass the views of the following:

• Local Town/Parish Council – thought Local Liaisons Committee;

• Members of the Area Planning Sub – Committees;

• Residents Associations, Amenity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

To consider the attached reports. 

The Panel received a copy of the above Customer Satisfaction survey.

The Panel expressed concern about some of the statistics and requested that these concerns be put to BMG. Action J Preston to take this forward.  

The following information has been received from BMG since the meeting:

“The Council has a large number of agents who submit many applications.  Since the

rules of the survey only allow us to ask about one application per person, the number of qualifying applications is relatively low.  As an example, one of the agents submitted 28 applications during the period and another 20. This explains why only 262 people were consulted out of over 1000 applications."

Beacon Council Seminar – London – 14 February 2007

The Chairman reported that the aim of the event was to consider achievements in planning services and share good practice. She advised that all Members of the Panel were welcomed to attend this conference.

Action: Councillor Mrs Wagland/Planning Services to make available information on the above conference for distribution to Members. 

The Chairman drew attention to a document on Permitted Development detailing proposed changes to the policy. (tabled)

To be agreed.

Date of next meeting 21 January 2007 at 7.30 pm in CR1 – Items of business

IT system – Presentation from suppliers

Consultation (Local Members etc) – arrangements for taking this forward.