Evaluation and Urgent Business
Time permitting, the Chairman will invite questions and comments on issues not covered elsewhere in the agenda.
Minutes:
(a) Written Questions
The Chairman reported that, since the publication of the agenda, written questions had been received from Mrs Charmian Spickernell in relation to the Council’s planning process, specifically:
1. The delegation of planning applications and determining when applications could be “called in” to go to Committee for determination.
2. The accuracy of planning application headings – with reference to a recent application where a key component of the development had been omitted from the heading.
3. How major planning applications were differentiated from minor applications and whether this required a different approach.
4. Site visits.
A response to these questions had been sought from Councillor John Brady, the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Planning and Housing, and this was read out by Caroline Brailey. Councillor Brady referred to the recently completed detailed consultation on the planning process, which had covered the points raised by Mrs Spickernell. A report with recommended changes to the planning process would be submitted to the Cabinet in September or October, although there were no proposals to change the call-in process. In relation to the accuracy of application headings, Councillor Brady requested the full details of the application to allow officers to investigate this issue.
Written copies of the questions and responses were made available at the back of the meeting room.
(b) Other questions and comments
A question was raised in relation to a specific case of a patient being discharged from a mental hospital and re-housed in the area. Maggie Rae commented that it would be inappropriate to discuss individual cases in a public meeting.
A comment was raised congratulating the Area Board on its first year, and thanking the officers for their hard work.