Agenda item

To consider the issues raised in respect of planning by the Local Councils, as outlined in Appendix 1.

The Secretary of the Epping Forest Branch of the Essex Association of Local Councils highlighted the concerns that had been raised in respect of planning issues by the Local Councils, and in particular the perception that District Council Officers and Members did not always understand the representations of residents’ views by Local Councils. Concern had also been expressed over a recent letter from the District Council’s Assistant Head of Planning Services regarding relatively minor objections made by Local Councils to planning applications, which had then caused the application to be dealt with by the relevant Sub-Committee rather than by the Head of Planning and Economic Development under delegated powers. The Joint Chief Executive (Community) reminded the Committee that District Councillors had requested the letter be written, and that Local Councils had the option to attend the Area Plans Sub-Committees to make their views known to the District Councillors. The Vice-Chairman added that planning was an integral part of the Local Charter, but had always been problematic.

Epping Town Council inquired as to whether there should be any collaboration between District and Parish Councillors. The Vice-Chairman responded that there would not always be collaboration as there were fundamental differences in approach, especially in respect of design issues, but Local Councillors should have more influence over planning matters as they generally had better local knowledge. The Vice-Chairman also highlighted that letters to neighbours informing them of impending planning applications did not always get received, especially in rural areas. Ongar Parish Council was in agreement and added that neither the leaflet nor letter sent to neighbours of planning applications made any mention that Parish and Town Councils could also make representations. Epping Town Council further stated that the tone of the letter from the Assistant Head of Planning Services had not been appreciated. The Vice-Chairman reminded the Committee that Parish and Town Councils only received the plans for each application, not the Officer’s report that was prepared for District Councillors. Local Councillors were also not quite so knowledgeable about planning law as their District counterparts, and many of the Local Councils did not have full-time Clerks.

The Head of Planning and Economic Development responded to some of the points that had been raised by the Local Councils. The District Council had offered Local Councillors the same level of training as District Councillors. New Councillors would not have the knowledge or understanding that had been gained by their more experienced colleagues, but over time this would improve and would lead to a growing correlation between the views of District and Local Councillors. The responsibility for the notification of neighbours had been transferred from Planning Officers to Administrative staff, but that there would occasionally be discrepancies over notifications between the urban and rural areas of the District due to the greater distances involved for the rural areas. The District Council had also made use of site notices, the local press and had advised Local Councils of forthcoming applications. The new integrated Planning computer system would enable members of the public to view the progress of individual applications, but Parish or Town Councils should remain the primary vehicle by which the views of local residents were made known to the Sub-Committees. With regard to the letters and leaflets sent out with the letters of notification to neighbours, they would be redesigned to give greater emphasis to the role of Parish and Town Councils in making representations in respect of planning applications. However, if the Committee wished to approve them then they would not be in use before March 2006.

Nazeing Parish Council remarked that, with the current backlog of enforcement action, planning conditions were possibly being overused in order to control debateable planning applications, and Officer time was being wasted in continually revisiting the same sites. The Head of Planning and Economic Development stated that the concerns over enforcement were understood. District Councillors were generally aware of applicants who had not complied with planning conditions in the past; if Parish or Town Councils had similar concerns then representations should be made to the relevant Sub-Committee. The Enforcement team was large in comparison with other teams within the Council, but it had been difficult to keep the team together in the same office. There had also been problems encountered in attempting to recruit a Senior Enforcement Officer; the appointment would probably now be made internally. The Head of Planning and Economic Development further added that the new integrated Planning computer system would aid the dissemination of information, and that the proposed restructure would improve the administrative support for the Enforcement team.

Moreton, Bobbingworth and The Lavers Parish Council felt that Planning Officers had tended to make their decision before reviewing the representations made by Local Councils. It was also felt that there was a lack of understanding at District level over Parish boundaries and that more use should be made of the electoral register. Loughton Town Council added that Local Council representations should focus on the relevant policies as well as the Local Plan, and it was agreed that a guide to these policies should be distributed to the Local Councils. The Head of Planning and Economic Development advised that Officers would have some idea of the likely outcome of the application early in the process, would have come to a preliminary decision after visiting the site, but would not compose the final report until after all the representations had been received. The new integrated Planning computer system should alleviate the problems regarding the Parish boundaries, and the weekly list of received planning applications would be updated to include the Parish of the application.

Sheering Parish Council inquired as to whether there were any plans to hold Planning Seminars. The Chairman intimated that these had been held in the past but that attendance had often been disappointing. The Head of Research and Democratic Services added that further training courses on the Planning Protocol would be held in 2006 if the demand necessitated. The Chairman reminded the Committee that the District Planning Sub-Committees were very professionally run. It was unfortunate that some planning applications had to be granted due to a lack of planning grounds on which to refuse, but decisions that had been overturned on appeal were costly for the District Council.

Nazeing Parish Council highlighted the apparent paradox of rural Nazeing being placed in the urban Waltham Abbey Sub-Committee. The Head of Research and Democratic Services responded that Government rules dictated that some rural areas would unavoidably end up in pre-dominantly urban sub-committees.

The Secretary of the Epping Forest Branch of the Essex Association of Local Councils requested a comparison between objections made by Local Councils and the occasions when the Planning Sub-Committee upheld those objections. The Head of Planning and Economic Development replied that 84% of the decisions taken were in line with the Parish or Town Council’s views, although Local Council objections could lead to the District Council not meeting its eight-week target for determining each application. The Committee were informed that some statistics had been prepared, broken down by Parish, which were available for Local Councillors to peruse.

The Head of Planning and Economic Development tabled a briefing note on Planning Performance, for the information of the Local Councillors on the Committee, which highlighted the areas where improvement in performance had been sought. These had included: a new integrated computer system for Planning, Building Control and Local Land Charges; changes to accommodation arrangements for the various teams within Planning Services; the recruitment of a ‘hit squad’ to process the backlog of planning applications; the report on the restructure of Planning and Economic Development Services considered by the Cabinet on 24 October 2005; meeting the targets for the Key Performance Indicators within Planning Services; and the application of Planning Delivery Grants received by the Council.

            RESOLVED:

That a guide to the Epping Forest District Adopted Local Plan Policies be attached to the minutes of the meeting for distribution to all Local Councils.