Agenda item

Report to follow

J Doe introduced the report to members. There were some exceptions in building control under paragraph 3 as they are currently under a transitionary period after a large staff turnover. The department currently have an interim manager from Watford.
There are currently no issues with processing times of applications but drew members’ attention to paragraph 13 and 14 of the report which shows appeals under target. Q3 has been quite light with five cases determined at appeal, with the council winning three of these cases.
Planning validations are below 70% but since Christmas, there has been a huge turn around to shift the backlog of cases.
Paragraph 15 and 16 relates to enforcement and shows a slight dip in visits to lowest priority cases. It is hoped that the government increase in planning fees will allow for extra resources in the department.
There is no issue with performance within land charges but there has been a dip in income which reflects a slowdown in the market not a loss in business.

Councillor Birnie said at the last meeting, there was a discussion about the shortfalls in the IT system which runs the website and asked if there had been any improvement.

J Doe said that he hadn’t received any more complaints since the last meeting but asked members to forward any they received. There have been some short term glitches but the visibility of comments will only be resolved with a new system and this should be operational by the end of the year.

Councillor Matthews referred to appeals and the cases approved by the inspector. He asked if the department have analysed the reasons why they were allowed.

J Doe said all appeals get reported to the Development Management Committee.

Councillor Birnie asked if the council had suffered in relation to costs awarded.

J Doe said he wasn’t aware of any.

Councillor Timmis asked about enforcement. She said in her ward, there were four enforcement issues but people do not abide by rules and prolong their resistance and get away with flouting the rules by submitting a retrospective planning application.

J Doe said unfortunately, there are some people who know how to play the system. Breaking planning rules is not a criminal offence but most the council can do is serve a notice and take it through the courts. This usually results in a fine.

Councillor Anderson said that Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe had attended an appeal hearing on behalf on the council this week and no costs had been awarded against the council. He also queried the council’s website as when you go to land charges, the website provides a list of private companies.

J Doe said the register of land charges can be inspected by anyone but asked for more details so he could look into it.

Councillor Anderson said parking standards had been deferred on the work programme and understood the reasons for it but asked for assurance that it hadn’t been forgotten. He said he was also disappointed with the Two Waters Masterplan report on the Cabinet agenda and the committee’s comments and concerns seem to have been missed.

Councillor Birnie asked about the session that was going to be organised with Herts Highways.

J Doe said the previous session was postponed. A Horner has had a meeting with Highways about the Member Development session and what members expect to hear in the session.

Councillor Fisher asked how satisfactorily was building control being managed.

J Doe said there was now stability in the team as it was now fully staffed. It is a fragile department as staff move into the private sector for a bigger salary.

Councillor Barrett referred to the risk register which was dated December 2016 and asked if it was the latest version.

J Doe said yes, it was reviewed every quarter but it had not changed.

Outcome

The Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee approved the report.