Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group (copy enclosed).

The Committee considered the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group (the Working Group) presenting a Member scrutiny item request and the conclusions of the Working Group.

It was noted that this scrutiny request had been submitted by Councillor S J N Morgan and the pro-forma based on his request was attached at Appendix A to the report. The request sought a review of various issues including the Council’s conduct in relation to an appeal against refusal of 22/00344/FULPP-11053774 for a travellers’ site beside the A414 at Woodham Mortimer.

At this point, Councillor Morgan provided the Committee with further clarification on the purpose of the report and the extent of the Committee’s involvement. He outlined the work undertaken by the Working Group, its consideration of the matters raised and conclusions together with a recommendation that the Committee decides the outcome of his request. An update note containing further information received by the Working Group following a reference back by the Committee in September 2024 was set out in Appendix B to the report.

The report advised that the Working Group had noted the initial Officer response to the questions raised along with the information received and sought further information on two points as referred to in the report. It had also received further Officer comments on representations from the Planning Agent for the local residents relating to the possible nuisance arising from the use of the site. Councillor Morgan referred to a letter received from the Planning Agent the day prior to this meeting and suggested, depending on how the Committee decided to deal with this scrutiny request, how Officers would be able to respond to the comments raised directly.

The Chairperson briefly referred to the Working Group being made aware of some on-going and live development management issues (referred to in paragraph 3.7 of the report). He advised that these were live and to be determined elsewhere within the Council and therefore beyond the scope for consideration by the Committee.

Councillor Morgan then proposed that this scrutiny now be put onto the scrutiny workplan for the Committee going forward. This was duly seconded and agreed by assent.

RESOLVED That this item be added to the Committee’s scrutiny workplan and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group prepare further information for scrutiny by the Committee on the following issues:

·                The chronology of what took place, identifying what went wrong and why;

·                Issues and questions raised by the Planning Agent for local residents in a recent communication to the Chairperson;

·                What the Council could do to avoid missing any future dates (in respect of submitting information relating to an appeal);

·                If the Council had a specific policy which set out how an appeal against a design involving a Member overturn of an Officers’ recommendation was processed.