The report is at item 8 of the agenda for the Cabinet’s meeting on Tuesday 11 July 2017 and its three appendices are in the first (main) agenda supplement.
The Cabinet made the following recommendations to the Council at this meeting.
RECOMMENDATION TO THE COUNCIL
(1) That a new Agreement be entered into with the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) under section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972 to enable Chichester District Council to continue to provide a development management service to the SDNPA for up to three years initially until 30 September 2020 and, subject to a further report to the Cabinet and the Council, for a further two years up until 30 September 2022 if the arrangements are working effectively and agreeable to both authorities.
(2) That the Head of Planning Services be authorised to conclude negotiations on the section 101 Agreement including the Service Level Agreement and related Protocols and complete the Agreement.
(3) That the proposed basis for payments set out in appendix 1 and 2 for the delivery of a development management service to the SDNPA be agreed.
Minutes:
The Council considered the recommendations made to it by the Cabinet at its meeting on 11 July 2017 as set out on the face of the agenda (copy attached to the official minutes), the details in respect of which were contained in the report on pages 20 to 27 of the agenda for that meeting and also in the appendices to the report on pages 84 to 178 of the first agenda supplement (pages 176 to 178 of which, being appendices 2 and 3, were confidential Part II material). All Chichester District Council (CDC) members had received a copy of the Cabinet agenda and the first agenda supplement.
Mrs Taylor (the Cabinet Member for Planning Services) formally moved the recommendations of the Cabinet and this was seconded by Mr Dignum (the Leader of the Council).
Mrs Taylor summarised the history from 2011 to date of the legal agreements between CDC and the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) for the delivery by CDC of a development management service on behalf of the SDNPA. She explained the principal change namely how payments would be calculated in the new agreement, which could operate for up to five more years with effect from October 2017. The new arrangements for determining payment levels were set out in paras 6.4 to 6.11 of the report. The draft section 101 agreement was in appendix 1; its four schedules were summarised in para 6.1 of the report, which also mentioned certain matters were still being negotiated and it was expected that these would be satisfactorily resolved. Para 6.7 summarised the details in the two confidential Part II appendices. The justification and benefits of entering into the new agreement were set out in sections 5 and 7 of the report. Section 9 reported the views expressed by CDC’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) at its meeting on 23 June 2017, which included two recommendations to the Cabinet in paras 9.3 and 9.4.
During the discussion (full details of which are available via the audio recording on CDC’s web-site) members made comments and asked questions about various matters and received where appropriate answers from Mrs Taylor and Mr Dignum and also Mr A Frost (Head of Planning Services), Mrs Shepherd (Chief Executive) and Mr Ward (Head of Finance and Governance Services). The subjects included:
(a) The development management agency agreement was very desirable in order to ensure that CDC retained influence within the whole of its geographical area including that part which lay within the SDNP.
(b) The need for CDC members whose wards were within the South Downs National Park to be consulted better than they were by the SDNPA in order that they could advise and answer their constituents’ concerns and questions.
(c) The importance of proper liaison between the two local planning authorities regarding those matters which did not clearly fall into the remit of either local planning authority – this would be pursued with the SDNPA and CDC was actively engaging with SDNPA to address all relevant issues, including (i) the preparation of its local plan in respect of which the SDNPA’s Chief Executive had been asked by Mrs Shepherd to arrange a briefing session for CDC members and (ii) the development by the two authorities of a communications protocol for district and parish councillors.
(d) The SDNPA was not provided with building control services by CDC, which had to compete with private companies offering that facility.
(e) The Development Management team at CDC for the SDNP was currently at full strength with no vacancies. There was no compulsion exerted on CDC by the SDNPA to fill staff vacancies on the National Park team before CDC planning posts and CDC would recruit in the normal way.
(f) The financial risk of the agency arrangement had been carefully considered in a thorough costing exercise which had involved for example a very detailed time analysis undertaken over a long period of time and an assessment of overheads.
During the debate Mr Ransley proposed that the press and the public be excluded from the Council meeting in order to discuss some of the details in the Part II exempt appendices 2 and 3. His concern related to defining the financial risk associated with this agency agreement (see (f) above). His proposal was seconded by Mr Shaxson. On a vote then being taken there were only 12 members in support thereof. The proposal was not, therefore, carried and the debate continued within Part I.
Mr Dignum concluded the debate by saying that the agency agreement was a good one which would ensure that the development management service was brought closer to CDC’s residents because it involved elected members representing the SDNPA area. CDC dealt with 97.6% of SDNPA planning applications. This was a long-term arrangement and while CDC could not make a profit from the agreement it would be able to recover a significant amount of its overheads. For these reasons he commended the agreement to the Council.
At the end of the debate the following decision was made by the Council.
Decision
The Council voted with respect to the recommendations made to it by the Cabinet and on a show of hands it was in favour of making the resolutions set out below, with no votes against and no abstentions.
RESOLVED
(1) That a new Agreement be entered into with the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) under section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972 to enable Chichester District Council to continue to provide a development management service to the SDNPA for up to three years initially until 30 September 2020 and, subject to a further report to the Cabinet and the Council, for a further two years up until 30 September 2022 if the arrangements are working effectively and agreeable to both authorities.
(2) That the Head of Planning Services be authorised to conclude negotiations on the section 101 Agreement including the Service Level Agreement and related Protocols and complete the Agreement.
(3) That the proposed basis for payments set out in appendix 1 and 2 for the delivery of a development management service to the SDNPA be agreed.