Notice of Motion
To consider the following Motion which has been referred to this Committee from the Council for resolution.
In accordance with notice duly given under Procedure Rule 4, Councillor A S Fluker to move the following motion, duly seconded by Councillors R P F Dewick and M W Helm:
Preamble:
With reference to the Costs Decision Notice regarding the planning appeal determined on 21st March 2022 Ref/APP/X1545/W/213283478 Land 250M North of 16A Maldon Road, Burnham on Crouch Essex.
Since losing the appeal the Council has agreed to pay the appellants costs of £230,000. The Council’s own legal fees are £30,000. These costs will be met by Council Taxpayers.
Motion:
1. That Council considers the Inspectors Notice and in particular paragraph 18 and takes the appropriate action.
2. That Council considers whether the ‘unreasonable behaviour’ of members in determining the application resulted in the appeal being lost and a costs of £230,000 being paid to the appellant and takes the appropriate action.
3. That Council considers, bearing in mind members overturned the Planning Officers recommendation to approve the application, why no members attended the appeal to evidence and give weight to their decision.
4. That Council considers why members went against the Officers decision to approve the application, the advice that Council was unlikely to win any appeal and considers why under those circumstances the appeal was defended at a cost of £30,000.
Minutes:
The Chairman advised the Committee that the Council had the Notice of Motion (as set out on the agenda) to this Committee for consideration as its remit was mainly one of scrutiny and review. For now, rather than look to discuss it without more information to understand what lies behind these issues, the Committee needed to receive it and decide how to deal with it. Since the matters to be looked at are clear and the Council has asked the Committee to look at this, the Committee could at least agree to add it to its Workplan. The Committee’s normal process would however be to refer a scrutiny request to the Overview and Scrutiny Working Group (which was due to be appointed at this meeting) to seek further information and then for the Working Group to report back to the Committee on the actual scope for scrutiny and a plan for how to go about it.
The Motion was in the name of Councillor A S Fluker and he proposed that the Committee consider referring the matter to the Overview and Scrutiny Working Group for review.
The Chairman put that the best way to proceed was for the Committee to agree receipt of the Motion, add it to its Workplan and refer the matter to the Overview and Scrutiny Working Group for further consideration and report back. This was duly seconded and agreed by the Committee:
RESOLVED
(i) That the Notice of Motion be received;
(ii) That the Motion be added the item to the Committees Workplan;
(iii) that the matter be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Working Group for further consideration and report back to the Committee.