Agenda and minutes

Any apologies for absence that have been received will be noted at this point.

Apologies had been received from Mr S Lloyd-Williams.

The Chairman will announce any urgent items that due to special circumstances are to be dealt with under the agenda item below relating to Late Items.

There were no urgent items for consideration at this meeting.

Members and officers are reminded to make any declarations of disclosable pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests they may have in respect of matters on the agenda for this meeting.

Mrs Apel, Mrs Tassell and Mrs Dignum declared a personal interest in agenda item 5 in respect of their membership as friends of Chichester Festival Theatre.

The procedure for submitting public questions in writing by no later than 12:00pm the day before the meetingis available here or from Democratic Services Officer (whose contact details appear on the front page of this agenda).

No public questions had been received.

That Overview & Scrutiny consider this Call-In and either:

(a)        refer it back to the decision maker for re-consideration, setting out in writing the nature of the committee’s concerns

(b)        refer the matter to Council setting out in writing the nature of the committee’s concerns

(c)        decide that neither (a) or (b) above applies in which case the decision will be effective immediately thereafter. 

The committee considered the report in the agenda (copy attached to the official minutes).

Mr S Hansford, Head of Community Services, advised the committee the call in related to a decision taken by Cabinet at its meeting on 10 January 2017 relating to agenda item 8 Off Street Parking Charges.  Cabinet resolved:

(1) That having considered the representations made in respect of the proposal to amend the Chichester District Council (Off Street Parking Places) (Consolidation) Order 2012, the Chichester District Council (Off Street Parking Places) (Consolidation) (Variation No 1) Order 2017, to include reference to the charges detailed in paragraph 5 of the agenda report (as amended in sub-para (a) thereof), shall come into effect from 1 April 2017.

(Paragraph 5.1(a) of the report states - To extend the hours of charging in New Park Road and Northgate Car Parks from 6.00pm Monday to Saturday to 8.00pm Monday to Saturday.)

Councillor Mr Richard Plowman had initiated the call in, supported by Mr Leslie Hixson, Mrs Tricia Tull, Mr Mike Hall, Mrs Jane Kilby and Mrs Julie Tassell.

The criteria identified by Mr Plowman for calling in the decision was that a) the decision is likely to cause distress, harm or significant concern to a local community or to prejudice individuals within it, b) the matter has not been subject to consultation or debate with relevant interested parties and h) the views of the members requesting the call in were not taken into account in arriving at the original decision.

Mr Hansford explained the procedure for hearing the call in. He also reminded the committee that they had three options – 1) to accept the Cabinet decision in which case it would come into effect immediately; 2) to refer the decision back to the decision maker for reconsideration, setting out in writing the nature of the committee’s concerns, or 3) to refer the matter to Council, setting out in writing the nature of the committee’s concerns. If the matter was referred to Council, Council would not be able to make a decision, but would, in turn, need to refer the decision back to the decision maker, Cabinet.

Mr Plowman was invited to present his evidence to demonstrate the alleged breaches. These were:

1)      There had been an inadequate consultation process and flawed interpretation of the responses.

2)      There was inequality of charges in New Park Road Car Park due to different car parking hourly rates.

3)      The effect on Chichester Festival Theatre and New Park activities and the night time economy.

Mr Plowman wished to call witnesses from the following organisations – Chichester Festival Theatre, New Park Centre and Chichester City Council. These witnesses each presented their case for supporting the call in.

Mr T French, representing Chichester City Council, spoke against the decision stating that the City Council had voted against the decision as a consultee. He was also the City Council representative on the Chichester District Parking Forum. He supported car parking charges when these charges were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 142.

Consideration of any late items as follows:

a)  Items added to the agenda papers and made available for public inspection.

b)  Items which the Chairman has agreed should be taken as matters of urgency by reason of special circumstances reported at the meeting.

There were no late items.