Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Mr. M.I. Seedat (Tel: 0116 265 6037) Email: mseedat@leics.gov.uk
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Minutes of the meeting of the Commission held on 31st January, 2002 PDF 27 KB Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 16th January, 2002 were taken as read, confirmed and signed, subject to the inclusion of Mr. M.B. Page CC in the list of members present at the meeting. |
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Questions asked by electors under Standing Order 35. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 35. |
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Questions asked by members under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). |
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Any other items which the Chairman has decided to take as urgent elsewhere on the agenda. Minutes: There were no urgent items for consideration. |
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Declarations of pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on this agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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Declarations of the Party Whip in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16. Minutes: There were no declarations made under Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16. |
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Presentations of Petitions under Standing Order 36. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that there were no petitions to be presented under Standing Order 36. |
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Planning Green Paper - 'Planning : Delivering a Fundamental Change'. PDF 13 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Acting Director of Planning and Transportation
concerning the main proposals contained in the Government's recent Green Paper
on "Planning : Delivering a Fundamental Change" and the proposed
response to it from the Cabinet. A copy
of the report, marked 'B' is filed with this minutes. Consideration was also given to the comments made by the Planning
and Environment Scrutiny Committee on the report at its meeting on 21 February
2002 and to a news release from the County Council's Network. Copies of these two documents were
circulated before the meeting and are also filed with these minutes. The Commission in
the course of the debate made comments as follows: i) There
were difficulties with the present system of strategic planning and planning
control which should be addressed. In
particular :- ·
There was a
need for speedier resolution of major and complex planning applications and for
the development of a robust decision-making process to deal with such
cases. It was noted that responsibility
for the delay frequently lay with Government departments. However, any process of reform should ensure
that the public were given appropriate rights to be consulted, ample opportunity
to raise objections and were treated fairly.
·
The current
system of forward planning involving structure plans and local plans could
prove cumbersome in practice. The
overlapping nature of the plans could lead to duplication and it was important to
ensure that there was no conflict between structure plans and local plans. ·
The current
system of forward planning and the responsibilities of county councils and
district councils was not readily comprehensible to the public. Any change in the current approach should be
designed to ensure a greater degree of transparency and that the system was
readily understood. ii) The
current plan-led system was essential as a means of controlling unlimited
development and creating appropriate expectations of likely action in respect
of planning control. There was a need
for strategic and co-ordinating sub-regional planning. Whilst endorsing the comments at paragraph
26 of the report to Cabinet, the view was expressed that the key topic areas
identified in the third bullet point of that paragraph could not be effectively
dealt with at regional or district level (housing distribution, employment land
allocations, retail floor space requirements, mineral and waste, green
wedges). Co-ordination was required to
ensure consistency of approach at district level. The proposed partial coverage of planning issues at sub-regional
level was insufficient to achieve these aims. iii) With regard to the proposals to increase
responsibilities at regional planning level through the transfer of
responsibilities from County Councils, the Commission was of the view that this
would create serious problems, in particular:- ·
The size of
the region would have the effect that any regional planning body would be
remote from district councils and local issues such as green wedges, town
centres and school travel issues. ·
There would be
problems of accountability to the general public and transparency; it would be
difficult to ensure that members of the public were aware of the forward planning
process. ·
It would be
more difficult for the public to be involved in processes of consultation and
objection in relation to the formulation of plans, than was currently the case. ·
It was likely that
there would be problems of democratic deficit and so lack of democratic
accountability at regional level. · The importance of probity in planning and an appropriate system for declarations of interest, as is well established in local government, could not readily be applied to regional decision-making processes involving non-elected representatives of interest groups, with a pre-conceived agenda in relation to ... view the full minutes text for item 87. |
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Draft Youth Justice Plan 2002/03 - 2004/05. PDF 12 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Chief Executive seeking views on the draft Youth
Justice Plan for 2002/03 to 2004/05 prior to its submission to the Youth
Justice Board for England and Wales. A copy of the report marked ‘C’ is filed
with these minutes. In response to
questions, the Commission was advised as follows:-
RESOLVED a) That
in addition to the two priorities
listed in ‘Measure 1 – Prevention’ consideration should be given to greater
emphasis being placed within the Plan on the need for tackling young people’s
involvement with drugs and drug related crimes; b) That
subject to the above, the draft Youth Justice Plan for 2002/03 to 2004/05 be
endorsed. 2.00 – 3.50 p.m. CHAIRMAN 27th February, 2002. |