Agenda and minutes

(*HC 53)

Apologies were received from Cllr R E Baldwin

Members are invited to declare any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests, including the nature and extent of such interests they may have in any items to be considered at this meeting.

            If Councillors have any questions relating to predetermination, bias or interests in items on this Agenda, then please contact the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

(*HC 54)

Members were invited to declare any interests in the items of business to be discussed but none were made.

Report of COP Lead Specialist Finance

(*HC 55)

The Chairman presented a report that sought approval of the formal council tax resolutions as set out in the presented report for 2016/17.

Some Members raised concerns over the increase in council tax proposed by West Devon Borough Council, particularly in light of current standards of service not being as high as they should.  The Lead Member for Customer First responded that he understood the perception, and he was working with officers to ensure that things were being put in place to address areas of poor service.   He asked that any specific problems, where possible, be reported online, as this would ensure an audit trail of the issue.

Following a discussion on service levels, a Member noted that all authorities responsible for council tax were under pressure as a result of reduced funding from central government. 

It was then RESOLVED:

1.     That it be noted that in January 2016 the Senior Leadership Team, under delegated authority from full Council, approved the Council Tax Base for the year 2016/17

2.     That the Council Tax requirement for West Devon Borough Council’s own purposes for 2016/17 (excluding Parish precepts) is calculated at £4,210,912 (Appendix B).

3.     That the following amounts are calculated by the Council for the year 2016/17 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and the Localism Act 2011 (Appendix B):

PART TWO    ITEMS WHICH MAY BE TAKEN IN THE ABSENCE OF THE PUBLIC AND PRESS ON THE GROUNDS THAT EXEMPT INFORMATION IS LIKELY TO BE DISCLOSED (if any)

If any, the Committee is recommended to pass the following resolution:

“RESOLVED that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the Meeting on the grounds that exempt information may be disclosed as defined in the paragraphs given in Part 7 of Schedule 12A to the Act.”        

Report of Case Management Manager                                                             

(HC 56)

(Paragraph 7 – Information relating to any action taken, or to be taken, in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime

The Lead Hub Member for Customer First introduced the report which outlined a proposal of how the Planning Enforcement service could be resourced to more effectively handle and respond to incoming enquiries and complaints, while also working through and closing the existing backlog of open cases.

Members had a long and detailed discussion on this item and the Lead Specialist – Planning, and Case Management Team Leader, responded to a number of questions relating to process, capacity within Planning and Legal and Ward Member involvement.  A major concern for Members was that the impact of addressing enforcement cases may have a relative impact on the workload of planning officers as additional applications were brought forward.  Members were advised that that there was sufficient capacity within the staff to deal with any additional workload that arose as a result.

It was then RESOLVED:

1.    To approve the Planning Enforcement plan to address the backlog of cases within 12 months from 1 March 2016; and

2.    That Council be RECOMMENDED that the costs for resourcing the planning enforcement team are met from the 2015/16 predicted revenue budget underspend of £70,000 (as per Table 1 and Table 2 of the presented report).

(HC 57)

It was proposed, seconded and agreed to re-admit members of the public to the meeting