Chichester District Council
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Issue - meetings

South Downs National Park Authority Development Management Agency Agreement

Meeting: 25/07/2017 - Council (Item 237)

South Downs National Park Authority - Development Management Agency Agreement

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  ...  view the full minutes text for item 237


Meeting: 11/07/2017 - Cabinet (Item 386)

386 South Downs National Park Authority - Development Management Agency Agreement pdf icon PDF 90 KB

The Cabinet is requested to consider the agenda report and its three appendices contained in the first agenda supplement (the second and third appendices are confidential and exempt from publication within Part II and will be circulated to members and relevant officers only) and to make the following recommendations to the Council meeting on Tuesday 25 July 2017 namely that:

 

(1)  The entering into a new Agreement with the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) under section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972 be approved to enable the 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 Cabinet and Council, for a further two years up until 30 September 2022 if the arrangements are working effectively and agreeable to both authorities.

 

(2)  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)  The proposed basis for payments set out in appendix 1 and 2 for the delivery of a development management service to the SDNPA be approved.

 

(4)  The recommendations from Overview and Scrutiny Committee as set out in paragraph 9.1 in the agenda report be considered.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RECOMMENDED 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.

 

RESOLVED

 

That having regard to the recommendations made by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee set out in para 9.3 of the Cabinet agenda report:

 

(1)  Officers be authorised to work with the South Downs National Park Authority to develop (with district and parish councillors) a communications protocol.

 

(2)  A corporate task and finish group to review the resources allocated to enforcement in relation to the SDNPA Enforcement Protocol and Chichester District Council’s Enforcement Strategy should not be established at the present time.

Minutes:

The Cabinet received and considered the agenda report and its three appendices in the first agenda supplement, the second and third of which were confidential Part II exempt material (copies of the report and the first appendix attached to the official minutes).

 

The report was presented by Mrs Taylor.

 

Mr Frost and Mr Whitty were in attendance for this item.

 

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 relating to 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 for 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.

 

Mr Frost commented that a very thorough review of the SDNPA’s agency arrangements with other authorities had been undertaken during the previous nine months, with the focus being clearly put on the approach to determining payments. The confidential details in appendices 2 and 3 disclosed how much work had been done on examining the cost approach based on case types.

 

During the debate Mr Frost, Mrs Shepherd and Mrs Taylor responded to members’ questions and comments on points of details which included the following matters:

 

(a)  The accuracy of the costs estimate and the possible need for each party to discuss options in the event that the costs proved to be above or below the estimate.

 

(b)  The third line in para 4.5 of the report required clarification to say that the SDNPA had made an offer to CDC for CDC to undertake the development management functions on its behalf. 

 

(c)  The use of section 106 monies and Community Infrastructure Levy monies: the former were specifically allocated to a particular development; the latter would be received by the SDNPA for infrastructure anywhere within the SDNP; if there was a concern that the SDNPA was spending monies without consulting the local parish council, then this should be raised with the SDNPA. 

 

The two recommendations by the OSC (para 9.3) were considered by the Cabinet in the light of an overview given by Mr Carvell. Mrs Apel, the OSC chairman, commented on the OSC’s rationale for making them. With regard to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 386


Meeting: 13/06/2017 - Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Item 163)

163 South Downs National Park Authority Development Management Agency Agreement pdf icon PDF 106 KB

The committee is requested to note and comment on a) the operation of the current S101 agreement and Service Level Agreement and b) the position and progress that is being made in relation to the negotiations with the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) in connection with potential new delegated arrangements from 1 September 2017 onwards.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

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

 

The Chair welcomed Mr Bleakley of the South Downs National Park Authority . Mr Frost presented the report. Mr T Whitty, Mrs S Archer were also in attendance.

 

The committee made comments, including the following:

 

·         There was a benefit to being involved in planning applications in the SDNPA area as both officers and members are involved directly in influencing those planning applications.

·         There was concern that the new payment by way of costed case types would place this Council at financial risk. The cost analysis carried out over the last few months showed a slightly lower figure than previously achieved and therefore there could be a small reduction in payments. Mr Bleakley advised that they had looked at the workload over last 6 years and there had been a general upward trend so the financial risk to the Council was not high. This way the Council was paid for exactly the work carried out which would be a fairer system. He did not expect the payments to Chichester to be significantly different. If there was an unexpected cost increase on CDC’s part it could be claimed back from the SDNPA. There may be exceptional costs on an enforcement case for example. There would be an opportunity to review the operation of the agreement annually.

·         Enforcement resourcing - It had not been considered necessary to set up a separate team for SDNPA enforcement matters as the protocols for enforcement work within the Chichester local plan area and the SDNPA areas are similar and the team is considerably smaller than the DM teams. There are no significant issues with prioritising work in accordance with the agreed protocols or resourcing the team - the work is split between three investigating officers dealing with east, west and central areas and a team administrator who produces reports and ensures timescales are adhered to. Two senior officers take on more complex cases and engage legal processes where required. Benchmarking work carried out a few years ago showed the service compared favourably with other authorities. The level of resourcing could be reviewed in future if it was considered by members that there were issues that needed to be looked at. Last year there were 560 complaints - the split is slightly more than half for the Chichester local plan area.

·         Enforcement process - The note sent to parishes explained the approach taken on enforcement matters and how PC’s can access information and updates on current cases. . It can be a relatively slow process, enabling those contravening planning controls to submit retrospective planning applications and appeals so it can in some cases take years. A judgement needs to be taken at some point as to whether to proceed with formal action or to accept the development as if an application had been made and approved. Planning enforcement is a discretionary service; we don’t have to take action and planning guidance supports this.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 163


 

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