Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Baughan, Chapple, Chaudhry, Etholen and Hogg.

There were none.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th October 2021 as a correct record.

RESOLVED

The minutes of the meeting held on 14^th October 2021 were agreed as a correct record. 

A member raised concerns that additional information that had been requested during that meeting had subsequently been circulated to members, but that information was not captured in the public record of the minutes. It was agreed that the process would be reviewed to ensure that information provided after the select committee meeting could be captured in the minutes to ensure transparency for the public. ACTION: Scrutiny Manager

In addition, the member expressed the view that a response he had received in connection with his question on housing was insufficient and he would therefore follow this up with the Cabinet Member for Housing who would be attending the next meeting in February 2022.

Public questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in Buckinghamshire to put a question to a Select Committee.
The Committee will hear from members of the public who have submitted questions in advance relating to items on the agenda. The Cabinet Member, relevant key partners and responsible officers will be invited to respond.
Further information on how to register can be found here: https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/your-council/get-involved-with-council-decisions/select-committees/

There were none.

Buckinghamshire Council has a statutory duty to produce a new Local Plan for Buckinghamshire by April 2025.  This presents a valuable opportunity to shape the growth of Buckinghamshire.  Members will receive an overview of the key steps necessary in developing the plan and an indication of timescales.

Contributors:

Cllr Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Ian Thompson, Corporate Director, Planning, Growth and Sustainability

Darran Eggleton, Head of Planning, Policy and Compliance

Ian Manktelow, Planning Policy Manager

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, Steve Bambrick, Service Director, Planning and Environment and Darran Eggleton, Head of Planning Policy and Compliance to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member presented members with an overview of work that had recently begun on the development of a new Buckinghamshire Local Plan and the following main points were noted:

• The Buckinghamshire Local Plan is a vital document which will determine how development can take place across the county, including housing and employment sites, during the period of 2022-2040. It was important that it was prepared well because it would have a lasting impact and would sit alongside the county’s Growth Plan to set the vision for Buckinghamshire.
• £750,000 had been set aside to support the development of the plan.
• The Planning White Paper proposed significant changes to the local plan process, not least being a reduction in the timeline for producing one to just 30 months. However, with the legislation being delayed until 2022, following the appointment of a new Secretary of State, the team had no choice but to begin the process. They acknowledged that they would have to be agile enough to move at pace once any changes to the process were confirmed. Previous local plans had taken 5-7 years to get approval.
• The Council wanted to include local residents and listen to their concerns in relation to planning. Over 700 people had responded to the Statement of Community Involvement consultation and as a result of this, the Council had committed to consult on the draft local plan, which could take up to a year. This might have to be revised in light of legislative changes.
• An initial call for brownfield sites had not produced a significant number of viable options so far.  These sites would likely yield 5,500 homes which represents only 10% of the overall target of 55,000 houses in total (based on 2014 government figures).
• Members and residents were invited to submit any other brownfield sites for consideration for inclusion in the new local plan. To give members an indication, Steve Bambrick advised that brownfield sites might usually account for around 20% of required housing numbers.
• The Council also had a duty to co-operate with neighbouring local authorities when preparing their local plan and this could impact housing numbers.
• There could also be an impact on Buckinghamshire’s housing numbers as a result of the Cambridge/Oxford Arc spatial framework.
• Until the new Local Plan is in place, the planning frameworks set out in the existing local plans e.g Wycombe Local Plan, Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan, will remain the benchmark against which planning applications are judged.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for his introduction and invited questions from members. In response to questions and during the subsequent discussions, the following main points were noted:

• Steve Bambrick explained that the Planning Policy team had 26 members of staff. During the first year of the Council their focus had been on finalising the Vale of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Members will receive an update on progress and performance in Planning Enforcement following a service restructure earlier in the year.  Planning enforcement issues can negatively impact our residents and members are keen to understand the impact of the Local Enforcement and Monitoring Plan (LEMP) which was adopted in June 2020.

Contributors:

Cllr Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Ian Thompson, Corporate Director, Planning, Growth and Sustainability

Darran Eggleton, Head of Planning Policy and Compliance

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Gary Hall, Deputy Cabinet Member for Planning Enforcement to the meeting, who joined Cllr Gareth Williams and the Officer team.  Cllr Gary Hall introduced the report, reminding members that planning enforcement was a priority but if a breach was reported, the team would work with individuals to bring their development back into line with planning rules, before looking to take more formal action.  Cllr Hall paid tribute to the staff and reminded members that whilst planning could be an emotive subject, officers should be treated with courtesy and respect.

Darran Eggleton, Head of Planning Policy and Compliance, highlighted the following main points from the report:

• Buckinghamshire Council took a firm but fair approach to planning enforcement and formal action would be taken as needed.
• The Planning Enforcement management team had been restructured with two Area Team Leaders reporting into the Enforcement Manager. The two teams were aligned with North and Central Planning areas and East/South and West planning areas.
• The teams were working through a backlog of cases, using a proactive risk- based approach which enabled decisions to be taken as early as possible in the process. This was leading to an increase in performance, with an increased number of notices issued and a high success rate at appeal stage which demonstrated that staff were making sound judgements.

In response to members’ questions and during the subsequent discussions the following main points were noted:

• It was noted that 805 cases had been closed and only 24 formal actions taken. Darran Eggleton explained that cases were not closed unless permission has been sought and obtained or if it was judged not to be expedient to pursue the issue.  The closure rate was monitored and usually ran at 20%, due to issues being resolved or being found not be in breach of planning rules.
• In response to a question regarding the caseload per officer, average length of time to resolve a case and how Buckinghamshire Council compared to others, it was agreed that more detailed KPIs would be shared with the committee. It was noted that Government collated national statistics in terms of the number of enforcement notices issued and BC were ranked 11^th last year or 5^th outside of Greater London. ACTION: Darran Eggleton
• A member briefing session on enforcement was planned for the new year as well as some training aimed at town and parish councils.
• Anyone could report a planning breach via the planning portal. The team had 1556 open cases currently.
• A member complimented the team on dealing with a planning breach she reported and resolving the issue within 3 weeks.
• A member questioned why only 24 formal notices had been issued when reporting of issues was much higher.  It was noted that last year the Council issued 59 notices in comparison with 100 for the highest issuing local authority. 
• The enforcement team was made up of 17 full time equivalents although there were currently 3 vacancies, which were being covered by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee will receive an overview on the collection and monitoring of S106 and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) monies.  S106 and CIL are also known as developer contributions and can be used to fund local infrastructure projects.

Contributors:

Cllr Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Ian Thompson, Corporate Director, Planning, Growth and Sustainability

Darran Eggleton, Head of Planning Policy and Compliance

The Committee received and noted the report on S106 and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). In response to members’ questions and during subsequent discussions the following main points were noted:

• It was noted that the planning white paper had suggested that a national infrastructure levy could be introduced instead of CIL so changes could be on the horizon.
• Buckinghamshire Council had not reimbursed any developer contributions through the clawback mechanism.

• A member asked how CIL operated in the High Wycombe town area which was unparished and asked if any CIL monies had been clawed back by developers in the Wycombe District Council over the past ten-year period. It was agreed that this information would be provided after the meeting.                                                       ACTION: Steve Bambrick
• A member asked how S106/CIL was managed in connection with larger developments, particularly when developers take applications to appeal.  Steve Bambrick advised that major applications tended to be managed via Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs). If an application is very speculative and goes to appeal the Council has a duty to defend its position and would advise the planning inspector of any conditions and S106 provisions that would be needed if planning permission was granted. The planning team try to work collaboratively with applicants either through pre-application advice or PPAs in the case of major developments.
• A member advised that a S106 funded initiative was going ahead in his ward despite concerns being raised by all local members there. He wanted advice on what local members can do to influence the S106 spend. It was noted that any S106 agreement is designed to deliver an outcome required as a result of a planning decisions. Decision makers set out the requirements for the S106 so it was important to engage with the process ahead of that decision being taken at area planning committee.
• In response to a question regarding the mechanisms around CIL it was explained that when planning permission is approved, applicants are provided with a CIL liability form.  There are some exemptions such as self-build, social housing etc. The applicant must then provide a commencement notice and within 60 days they must pay the CIL. Each year the Council published an Infrastructure Funding Statement on 31^st December. This provided an overview of CIL that had been collected in each local area and across the county as a whole.
• After five years, town and parish councils must provide notice to Buckinghamshire Council detailing how the CIL monies have been spent. If it has not been spent, then Buckinghamshire Council would take back the money but it still had to be spent in that local area. It was unclear if the onus was on the town and parish council to return the money or on Buckinghamshire Council to request it after the five-year period. It was agreed that this would be clarified following the meeting.

                                                                                        ACTION: Darran Eggleton

• A member asked why only some CIL information was available online and it was noted that a fee was charged to access  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Cllr Chris Poll, who is chairing the rapid review into Member Engagement in Planning, will provide the committee with an update and an indicator of the next steps.

The Chairman invited Cllr Chris Poll, who was chairing the rapid review on Member Engagement in Planning to update the Committee on the progress with this piece of work.  The following main points were noted:

·       The review group held an initial meeting in early November with the Cabinet Member, Gareth Williams, Christine Urry, Head of Planning & Development and some of her team.

·       This was a very useful meeting. Members shared some of their experiences with accessing help and updates from planning officers and the staff provided an insight into some of the challenges they have been facing, such as building one team in the new Unitary council against the backdrop of a significant increase in planning applications and having to work remotely due to the pandemic.

·       Following on from the meeting, the review group decided to set up two surveys – one for elected members and one for planning staff. These were accessible online and all data received was confidential and anonymised. The surveys closed on 26^th November and a summary of the results will be shared with the review group shortly.

·       Some initial headlines - 59 members responded, which is a response rate of 40%, with a good mix of new members and members who had previously served on one of the legacy councils.

·       Overall, 46% reported having a positive or very positive experience of engaging with the planning service and 25% reported having a negative or very negative experience so far.

·       In response to a question regarding the Cabinet Member’s proposal to introduce pre-bookable Planning Surgeries for members, the feedback was supportive with 80% of respondents being positive or very positive about the initiative.

Next Steps

·       The review group will be meeting via MS teams with a Planning Development Manager from Durham, to discuss their experience of member engagement in planning. As another large unitary authority with a similar planning committee model to Buckinghamshire, Durham will be a useful comparator.

·       In January, the review group will meet to consider the evidence that has been gathered and a report with recommendations will be drafted.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Poll for this update.

For members to consider and agree any changes to the Work Programme.

The Select Committee noted the Work Programme.

17^th February 2022 at 10am.

17^th February 2022 at 10am