Issue - meetings

Councillor B E Harker left the meeting during this item of business.

Councillor C Swain referred to a response the Leader of the Council had made to a Member of the Public in relation to the Council’s position regarding Bradwell B.  He quoted from the response and asked the Leader if the text had been agreed by with the Lead Legal Specialist and Monitoring Officer who had subsequently rejected a motion submitted by him on the same lines.  In response the Leader of the Council confirmed that his response would have been tested legally and how it was important to get motions right because they often brought forward important issues.  In respect of motions, the Leader clarified that the acceptance and legality of a motion would be the decision of the Chairman of the Council in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and others.  Although he was unable to comment on the motion referred to by Councillor Swain, the Leader advised that he was happy to meet with Councillor Swain, the Chairman of the Council and the Monitoring Officer to go through it.

Councillor C Morris asked the Leader in light of the negativity towards Bradwell B whether it was time the Council revised it support of Bradwell B.  In response the Leader of the Council advised that he had drafted a letter to the Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary regarding the future ownership and shareholding of Bradwell B / CGN asking him to explain how they were going to safeguard the operating of the power station should it go ahead in the future.  The Leader advised he was writing to the Secretary as a member of the Council, however if Members wished he could write on behalf of them or on behalf of the Council.  He also advised that to change the Local Development Plan (LDP) would be a very long process and something Members would have to decide if they wanted to do.  However the Council would shortly be starting a review of the LDP and Bradwell would be one of the things reviewed straight away.

Councillor M S Heard referred to planning enforcement, there being 500 enforcement cases and some Officers having a caseload of over 200 cases.  He asked the Leader of the Council if he was happy with this situation and what he could do to alleviate it.  In response the Leader advised he was concerned about the number of cases and outlined how some of the Area Planning Committees had been reviewing these.  The Leader suggested that Councillor Heard met with him along with the Chairmen of the Area Planning Committees and the Director of Service Delivery to review the list with the intention to bring a report back to the Council.  He highlighted how the recent COVID crisis had added further restrictions as the team was not able to go into the community.

Councillor K M H Lagan asked the Leader of the Council if the Local Development Plan (LDP) had been reviewed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1087