Agenda item

During the ongoing Covid-19 situation the Council is operating revised procedures to permit remote attendance of meetings. The procedure for the Strategic Planning Committee including public participation is attached.

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Statements

Members of the public who wish to submit a statement in support of or in

objection to an application on this agenda should submit it to the officer named on this agenda no later than 5pm on 17 July 2020.

Those statements in accordance with the Constitution will be included in an

agenda supplement. Those statements must:

·       State whom the statement is from (including if representing another person or organisation);

·       State clearly whether the statement is in objection to or support of the application;

·       If read aloud, be readable in approximately 3 minutes.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution which excludes, in particular, questions on non-determined planning applications.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such

questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on 15 July 2020 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on 17 July 2020. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to themeeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

Questions have been received from Councillor Ernie Clark, which are attached together with responses.

Cllr Clark had submitted three questions (W-20-01, W-20-02, W-20-03) for which a response had been provided, as detailed in pages 19 – 21 of the agenda pack.

Supplementary questions

Cllr Clarke then read three supplementary questions, these were:

W-20-01 - What faith can local residents have in a planning process that allows conditions to be ignored, section 106 notices (planned for in perpetuity) to be varied at will, and where matters can be regularised effectively through variations?

Officer Response:

When there is a breach of a planning condition, applicants can legitimately apply to vary or remove a condition imposed as part of any grant of planning permission to seek the Council’s approval. As the decision maker, the LPA would be tasked with assessing the merits of each potential change to condition(s) or to vary the terms of any legal agreement. 

W-20-02 - Is Wiltshire Council so cash strapped that it cannot complete its responsibilities effectively? This gives builders a ‘carte blanche’ to behave however they want.

Officer Response:

Whether the Council takes direct enforcement action over any breach of planning control, is a discretionary option to be dutifully weighed up in terms of public expediency and reasonableness all of the options available at that time. The Government sets out a clear direction on how it expects LPAs to act, based on proportionality and reasonableness.

W-20-03 - When the government sets out the expectations through the NPPF and planning authorities are unable to carry it out, is recourse to the ombudsman the only avenue?

Officer Response:

No. If there are examples where it is thought the Council has not behaved appropriately, there is a two stage complaints process, with the initial complaint first stage complaint usually completed and responded to by the service. If that response is not accepted by the complainant, then there is the option to move to the second stage, where the complaint would be looked at by the Council’s corporate complaints team and in some cases, the legal team.

Question

Cllr Fuller had submitted one question, which was responded to and detailed on pages 3 - 4 of Supplement 1, which was published online dated 20 July 2020.

There was no supplementary question.