The Council is requested to consider the agenda report and formally to note the taking of the urgent decision taken by the Leader of the Council as set out more fully below that the planning fees charged by Chichester District Council should be increased by 20% with effect from July 2017.
The Background to and the Nature of the Decision
The Department of Communities and Local Government wrote to local authorities earlier this year offering the option to raise planning fees by 20% with effect from July 2017, provided that any additional money raised would be used to fund the planning service. If a council wished to embrace this opportunity, its section 151 officer was required to sign a statement confirming that (1) the money would be used solely for the planning service, (2) the council had determined to increase the fees by 20% and (3) budget figures were provided to demonstrate that the money was being reinvested in the planning service.
Ideally, had officers been aware of the detail of this in time for the Council meeting on 7 March 2017 it could have been dealt with then as a late item and the 2017-2018 budget could have been amended. The additional revenue to be generated is likely to be in the region of £120,000 for the period July 2017 to March 2018.
The government issued a housing white paper with a commitment to allow local authorities to increase planning fees as stated by 20% from July 2017. The implementation of such a measure would require secondary legislation. As a result of the general election and the fact that Parliament has now been prorogued, a decision on whether or not to pass such legislation will now be one for the new Parliament
The Constitutional Requirement to Report this Urgent Decision
The making of urgent budget or policy framework decisions is required to be the subject of a full report to be submitted to the next available Council meeting explaining the decision, the reasons for it and why the decision was treated as a matter of urgency. The requirement is set out in para 4 of section 4.3 (Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rules) in Part 4 (Rules of Procedure) of Chichester District Council’s Constitution as follows:
‘4. Urgent budget or policy framework decisions
(a) The Cabinet, a committee of the Cabinet, an individual member of the
Cabinet or staff, area committees or joint arrangements discharging
executive functions may take a decision which is contrary to the Council’s
policy framework or contrary to or not wholly in accordance with the budget
approved by full Council if the decision is a matter of urgency. However, the
decision may only be taken:
i) if it is not practical to convene a quorate meeting of the full Council;
and
ii) if the chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee agrees that
the decision is a matter of urgency.
The reasons why it is not practical to convene a quorate meeting of full
Council and the chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s consent
to the decision being taken as a matter of urgency must be noted on the
record of the decision. In the absence of the chairman of the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee the consent of the Chairman of the Council, and in the
absence of both, the Vice-Chairman will be sufficient.
(b) Following the decision, the decision taker will provide a full report to the next available Council meeting explaining the decision, the reasons for it and why the decision was treated as a matter of urgency.’
The deadline of 13 March 2017 for notifying the Department of Communities and Local Government that Chichester District Council had determined to increase its planning fees meant that it was impractical to convene a quorate meeting of the Council (the item having missed the Council meeting on 7 March 2017). A decision to do so by the Leader of the Council would have been contrary to or not fully in accordance with the budget previously approved by the Council. Accordingly Clare Apel, as the chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, gave her consent to the decision on this matter being taken by the Leader of the Council as a matter of urgency.
Minutes:
The Annual Council received and considered the statement of position set out in the text in the agenda itself (copy attached to the official minutes).
Mrs Hamilton referred to the detailed text on the fourth and fifth pages of the agenda front sheets and pointed out that as stated therein members were requested only to note that an urgent decision had previously been made about the subject matter of this item.
Mrs Hamilton invited members to ask any questions by way of clarification.
Members asked questions and made comments on points of detail to which Mrs Taylor (the Cabinet Member for Planning Services), Mr Dignum (the Leader of the Council), Mrs Shepherd and Mr Carvell responded as appropriate. Matters covered included:
(1) Whether the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) might decide to increase its planning fees and if so whether any element thereof would be given to CDC. Any increase would be received by the SDNPA. A new agency agreement between CDC and the SDNPA was currently being negotiated and its terms would be submitted to the Cabinet and the Council in due course.
(2) Whether the increase would apply to pre-application enquiries and how any increase might be used. It would not apply to such enquiries and details of the Development Management (DM) budgets were published on CDC’s web-site. The current budgets for DM and planning enforcement revealed that income did not by some way cover the cost of the service and so the increases were justified; a profit would not and indeed it could not be made. Increases in planning fees were made on the user pays principle.
(3) The details of the proposed increases would be set out in secondary legislation and were awaited from the Department for Communities and Local Government. This was subject to the outcome of the general election and members would be kept informed.
(4) Planning fees were set by regulations and there was no discretion vested in local planning authorities to vary the level of fees charged depending on the nature of the proposed development eg lower fees could not be levied in the case of, say, affordable or community-led housing.
Mrs Hamilton asked the Annual Council formally to note the urgent decision taken by the Leader of the Council as set out on the face of the agenda.
Decision
The Annual Council voted on a show of hands in favour of making the resolution set out below with one vote against and no abstentions.
RESOLVED
That the Annual Council notes the urgent decision made by the Leader of the Council that the planning fees charged by CDC should be increased by 20% with effect from July 2017.