Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies had been received from Cllr Ceri Stalker, Panel member and from Cllr Ken Pollock, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy and Infrastructure.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by email indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 14 September 2017).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

None.

Previously circulated.

The Minutes of the meeting on 20 January 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Economy, Development Control Manager and Section 38/Section 278 Development Control Manager were in attendance to provide an update on improvements to the Development Control Process related to developer funded infrastructure.

Also present was Cllr Alan Amos, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways.

The Panel Chair set out the main aims of the discussion, which were to understand:-  

·         How to get developer-funded Highways Infrastructure built quicker for the benefit of residents and road users?

·         How can Network Control help ensure the planning conditions imposed on developers to build certain highways infrastructure by certain key times (ie before the houses are occupied) are met?

·         How will Highway Liaison Engineers help councillors be informed and involved with major developer-funded highways infrastructure in their division at planning stage, and once planning has been approved?

The Worcestershire County Council (WCC) officers present gave a presentation with further information on the processes, requirements and issues involved and improvements to the Development Control Process (the 10 Point Plan). A flow chart to show the stages of the development management process was also circulated.

The development management process was spilt into two distinct areas:

·         Planning application stage  - Development Management Team (Karen Hanchett)

·         Delivery (post planning) – S278 and S38 Development Control Team (Adrian Tuck)

Planning Application

Resources for the planning application stage involved a team of 9 staff including the Team Leader. Two very experienced Principal Officers dealt with major applications, five Senior Officers dealt with householder and minor applications and there was also a dedicated Travel Plan Officer.

There was a robust system in place to deal with refusals of applications so that such decisions could be defended. Refusal was something which officers could only recommend to planning committees. Sometimes applications were recommended for refusal, and after revision, subsequently recommended for approval. This was confusing for residents and councillors and there were plans to change the wording on the website to make this clearer.

The presentation included numbers of planning applications responded to during 2015 and 2017 and the average number of responses per month had risen 22% from 168 in 2015 to 205 this year. 2015's April to December summary list showed 1509 responses, of which 805 (53.3%) passed with no objections and 33 (2.2%) were refused.  In comparison, between 1 January and 31 August this year, 1637 applications were responded to, with 951 (58.1% with no objections) and 45 (2.7%) were refused.

In spite of increasing numbers of applications, the number of late responses was decreasing (20.4% in 2015, to 5.7% in 2017) and the average response time had fallen from 16 to 9 days. This was partly due to a new system introduced to monitor response time, and an expanded team.

Applicants consulted with WCC where they envisaged an impact on highways. The Development Control Manager welcomed and encouraged liaison between WCC, developers, highways and the Planning Authority.

To communicate with councillors, every week the team passed information to Rachel Benson, the Directorate's Member Support and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 270.

Current version enclosed for consideration

The Panel considered the current work programme.

The next meeting on 3 October would look at footways and cycle paths.

The proposed scrutiny of budgets relating to the Economy and Infrastructure Directorate was awaiting clarification on the overall budget scrutiny approach from the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board. Panel members Bob Brookes, James O'Donnell, Brandon Clayton had put their names forward.

It was suggested that bus provision, in particular the performance of companies on certain routes, be looked at as part of the future work programme.