Issue - meetings

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

To provide Members with a regular update on Planning Enforcement.

The Principal Planning Officer (Conservation and Enforcement) provided an update on the Planning Enforcement Quarterly Report.

Audio recording – 2 hour 12 minutes 40 seconds

The Principal Planning Officer (Conservation and Enforcement) provided an update on the Planning Enforcement Quarterly Report and advised that:

·       The report gave an insight into the work of the Enforcement team.

·       Customer engagement was crucial to the department to retain a good reputation.

·       Work was ongoing to signpost members of the public and to separate out general public enquires from those that required assistance from the enforcement team.

·       There had been website changes which included a frequently asked questions function and a summary of current work.

·       It was noted that enforcement work took time and was not a rapid response service.

·       From December the website would have monitoring details of section 106 payments and would include a list of contributions received over the last year, what the money had been spent on and a clawback overview.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Ruth Brown

·       Councillor Ian Mantle

In response to questions, the Principal Planning Officer advised that:

·       Information regarding enforcement appeals would be included in the next quarterly update.

·       Work was ongoing to set up a sharing network with other districts and the County Council regarding Section 106 payments.

Councillor Ruth Brown advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were appointing a Task and Finish Group on Section 106 funding.