Agenda item

(i)     Development Management and Licensing Committee

          Meeting held on 26 February 2019

 

(ii)    Overview and Scrutiny Committee

          Meeting held on 26 February 2019

 

(iii)   Standards Committee

          Meeting held on 12 March 2019

 

          Unstarred Minutes to agree:

 

          SC 3 Annual Report

 

That Council be RECOMMENDED to appoint Mr Trevor Kirkin and Mr Peter Boreham to serve as West Devon Borough Council Independent Persons from the Annual Meeting in May 2019 until the Annual Meeting in May 2023.

 

SC 4 Review of Procedure for Dealing with Standards Complaints

 

That Council be RECOMMENDED that:

 

1. with effect from the Annual Council meeting on 21 May 2019, the revised ‘Dealing with Standards Complaints’ procedure (as attached at Appendix A of the presented agenda report) be adopted subject to inclusion of the following minor amendments:

 

-      That all reference to ‘dual-hatted’ Members be amended to read ‘multi-hatted’ Members; and

-      That the email address for the Monitoring Officer be updated to read: monitoring.officer@swdevon.gov.uk; and

 

2. authority be delegated for the review of the associated Hearing Procedure to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chairman of the Standards Committee.

 

(iv)   Audit Committee

          Meeting held on 12 March 2019

 

Unstarred Minutes to agree:

 

AC 38 Review of the Council’s Constitution: Rules of Procedure, Members’ Planning Code of Practice and Petition Scheme

 

          That Council be RECOMMENDED that:

 

1. the amendments to Part 4 (Rules of Procedure) of the West Devon Borough Council’s Constitution (as outlined at Appendix A of the minutes) be approved and formally adopted;

 

2 the draft Members’ Code of Good Practice – Planning (as outlined at Appendix B of the minutes) be adopted;

 

3.the amendment Rules for the Petition Scheme (as outlined at Appendix C of the minutes) be adopted; and

 

4. the Political Structures Working Group be convened with the following Terms of Reference:

 

a) To review the roles of Hub Committee Members (paying particular attention to the circulation of information and communication with the wider membership);

b) To assess the circumstances in which Informal Hub Committee meetings take place in private;

c) To look at the involvement of non-Hub Committee Members in the deliberations of the Hub Committee (to include how to best mke use of non-Hub Committee Members expertise); and

d)  To review the extent of the Delegations to the Hub Committee.

 

 

          AC 39 Devon Audit Partnership: Non-Voting Partner

 

          That Council be RECOMMENDED to:

 

1. join the Devon Audit Partnership as a Non-Voting Partner from 1 April 2019 (or as soon as is reasonably practicable thereafter); and

 

2. delegate the details of the Service Level Agreement (including Terms of Reference) to the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the lead Hub Committee Member for Support Services and the Chairman of the Audit Committee.

 

(v)    Hub Committee

          Meeting held on 19 March 2019

 

Unstarred Minutes to agree:                   

 

HC 84 Peer Challenge Action Plan

 

It was then RESOLVED that:

 

(i) Council be RECOMMENDED that a Joint Working Group be convened and the draft Terms of Reference for that group be approved as set out in Appendix B.

 

HC 85 Northern Outreach

 

It was then RESOLVED that Council be RECOMMENDED that the Hub Committee preferred option for the Northern Outreach Service was to reduce the service to a single day per week and monitored for a three month period and a report presented back to the Hub Committee meeting on 16 July 2019 that include the results of the monitoring, along with results of the monitoring at Tavistock, to enable a decision on the future provision of the service.

 

HC 89 Accomodation Strategy

 

It was then RESOLVED that Council be RECOMMENDED:

 

1. To agree a future accommodation strategy which will consider all alternative accommodation options and get best value for the site;

 

2. To form a Member Working Group of six Members, to be selected by the Group Leaders, to determine their terms of reference and work through options and to make recommendations to Hub Committee in July 2019; and

 

3. For the group to give consideration to each of the options outlined at paragraph 4.1 of the presented agenda report.

 

CM 64                                                                

a.      Development Management & Licensing Committee – 26 February 2019

It was moved by Cllr P R Sanders, seconded by Cllr A Roberts and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that the Minutes of the 26 February 2019 meeting be received and noted”.

 

b.     Overview and Scrutiny Committee – 26 February 2019

It was moved by Cllr J Yelland, seconded by Cllr R Cheadle and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that the Minutes of the 26 February 2019 meeting be received and noted”.

 

c.     Standards Committee – 5 March 2019

It was moved by Cllr A F Leech, seconded by Cllr J Yelland and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that the Minutes of the 5 March 2019 meeting be received and noted, with the exception of Unstarred Minutes SC 3 and SC 4”.

 

In respect of the Unstarred Minutes:

 

i.   SC 3 Annual Report

It was moved by Cllr A F Leech, seconded by Cllr J Yelland and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that Mr Trevor Kirkin and Mr Peter Boreham be appointed to serve as West Devon Borough Council Independent Persons from the Annual Meeting in May 2019 until the Annual Meeting in May 2023.”

 

ii.  SC 4 Review of Procedure for Dealing with Standards Complaints

It was moved by Cllr A F Leech, seconded by Cllr J Yelland and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that:

 

 

1.    with effect from the Annual Council meeting on 21 May 2019, the revised ‘Dealing with Standards Complaints’ procedure (as attached at Appendix A of the presented agenda report) be adopted subject to inclusion of the following minor amendments:

 

-       That all reference to ‘dual-hatted’ Members be amended to read ‘multi-hatted’ Members; and

-       That the email address for the Monitoring Officer be amended to read: monitoring.officer@swdevon.gov.uk; and

 

2.    authority be delegated for the review of the associated Hearing Procedure to the Monitoring Officer.”

 

d.    Audit Committee – 12 March 2019

It was moved by Cllr M Davies, seconded by Cllr B Lamb and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that the Minutes of the 12 March 2019 meeting be received and noted, with the exception of Unstarred Minutes AC 38 and AC 39”.

 

In respect of the Unstarred Minutes:

 

i.   AC 38 Review of the Council’s Constitution: Rules of Procedure; Members’ Planning Code of Practice; and Petition Scheme

 

In discussion, some Members expressed their concerns over reference to the following section of the Planning Code of Practice:

 

‘You should not agree to any formal meeting with applicants, developers or groups of objectors without first discussing with the planning case officer and agreeing a course of action in writing.’

 

The Members proceeded to question what constituted a ‘formal meeting’.  In reply, the Deputy Monitoring Officer provided an assurance that this section was not suggesting that any Member should refuse to attend such a meeting.  However, Members were being advised to exercise caution in instances when they could be asked to give an opinion on the merits of a particular planning application.

 

Having been moved by Cllr M Davies and seconded by Cllr B Lamb, it was then submitted to the Meeting and declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that:

 

1.    the amendments to Part 4 (Rules of Procedure) of the Council’s Constitution (as summarised in paragraph 2.5 of the agenda report presented to the Audit Committee and fully outlined at Appendix A to the published Committee minutes) be approved and formally adopted;

 

2.    the draft Members’ Code of Good Practice – Planning (as attached at Appendix B to the published Committee minutes) be adopted;

 

3.    the amended Rules for the Petition Scheme (as attached at Appendix C to the published Committee minutes) be adopted; and

 

4.    the Political Structures Working Group be reconvened to:

 

a.  review the roles of Hub Committee Members (paying particular attention to the circulation of information and communication with the wider membership);

b.  assess the circumstances in which informal Hub Committee meetings take place in private;

c.   look at the involvement of non-Hub Committee Members in the deliberations of the Hub Committee (to include how to best make use of non-Hub Committee Members’ expertise); and

d.  review the extent of Delegation to the Hub Committee.”

 

ii.   AC 39 Devon Audit Partnership Non-Voting Partner

It was moved by Cllr A F Leech, seconded by Cllr J Yelland and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that:

 

1.    the Council join the Devon Audit Partnership as a Non-voting Partner from 1 April 2019 (or as soon as is reasonably practicable thereafter); and

 

2.    details of the Service Level Agreement be delegated to the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the lead Hub Committee Member for Support Services and the Chairman of the Audit Committee.

 

e.    Hub Committee – 19 March 2019

It was moved by Cllr P R Sanders, seconded by Cllr L Samuel and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that the Minutes of the 19 March 2019 meeting be received and noted, with the exception of Unstarred Minutes HC 84, HC 85 and HC 89. 

 

In respect of the Unstarred Minutes:

 

i.   HC 84 Peer Challenge Action Plan

It was moved by Cllr P R Sanders, seconded by Cllr L Samuel and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that a Joint Working Group be convened and the draft Terms of Reference for that Group be approved as set out in Appendix B of the agenda report presented to the Hub Committee meeting.”

 

ii.  HC 85 Northern Outreach

It was moved by Cllr P R Sanders, seconded by Cllr L Samuel and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that the Council:

 

1.     support the Hub Committee preferred option for the Northern Outreach Service to reduce the service to a single day per week, with this being monitored for a three month period; and

 

2.    note that a report will be presented back to the Hub Committee meeting on 16 July 2019 that includes the results of the monitoring, along with the results of the monitoring at Tavistock, to enable for a decision to be made on the future provision of the service.”

 

iii. HC 89 Accommodation Strategy

It was moved by Cllr P R Sanders, seconded by Cllr L Samuel and upon being submitted to the Meeting was declared to be CARRIED and “RESOLVED that:

 

1.  the Council agree a future Accommodation Strategy that will consider all alternative accommodation options and get best value for the site;

 

2.  a Member Working Group be formed comprising of six Members, to be selected by the Group Leaders, to determine their Terms of Reference and work through options and to make recommendations to the Hub Committee meeting on 16 July 2019; and

 

3.  the Group be tasked with giving consideration to each of the Options outlined at paragraph 4.1 of the agenda report that was presented to the Hub Committee meeting.”