14.1           There were no declarations of interests from Members.

15.1           That the minutes of the meeting held on the 23 November 2020 be deferred to the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 15 February 2021.

None received.

To consider questions from and provide answers to members of the public on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedures Rules.

17.1     None received.

To consider questions from and provide answers to Councillors on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedure Rules.

None received.

Philip Isbell- Chief Planning Officer

Members are asked to review the service transformation work following scrutiny in February 2020

19.1             The Chair invited the Chief Planning Officer, Philip Isbell to introduce the report.

19.2             The Chief Planning Officer introduced the report and detailed the background for the project.

19.3             The Officer for Heritage and Planning Compliance, Simon Bailey, informed Members that there had been 380 applications at the start of 2020 and that two thirds of these cases had been over 26 weeks old. The team had focused on these and had now processed 152 of these cases, which formed part of the mapping process for enforcement cases. The Team continued to work on reducing the outstanding cases, however the Covid-19 Lockdown had slowed this work down as site visits had only just commenced again. Some business had had to reduce the way they operated in order to keep working under the Covid-19 restrictions.

19.4             In response to Member’s questions the Officer responded that the Government had taken a tolerant approach to the way businesses were working, and that not all residents had been understanding for the new ways of working on building sites and in relation to the increase of home deliveries.

19.5             The Performance and Quality Officer for Growth & Sustainable Planning, John Mawdsley referred to the Enforcement Flowchart in Appendix E and presented the process map for enforcement cases to Members. 

19.6             The Business Practice Manager - Development Management, Julie Havard, detailed the administrative side of the enforcement process and the work with the Development Management team.  A report was set up within three working days for each case which was reduction from ten days previously. Each enforcement case was plotted with the Enforcement and the Development Teams with in 24 hours of receipt, once the validation team had evaluated the application forms.  However, not all cases referred were enforcement cases.

19.7             The Chief Planning Officer added that improved process mapping and workflow management have assisted officers to deal with the high personal workloads and that this had been a learning point for officers.

19.8             Councillor Ekpenyong queried the increase in the year-on-year cases and why this was happening.

19.9             The Officer for Heritage and Planning Compliance explained that there was a number of reasons, such as residents currently spending more time at home and walking around the neighbourhood more. Building work on sites could not adhere to social distancing and had extended working hours, which had caused some increase in cases being reported. He expected that the number of cases reported would reduce once the pandemic and the lockdown restrictions had been lifted.

19.10         Councillor McLaren queried whether allocations of cases were based on geographical areas and the officers responded that the Districts were divided into east and west and that each area had three teams allocated on a geographical basis. In response to further questions from Councillor McLaren, the officers confirmed that some areas such as Stowmarket and Sudbury received more complaints than other areas.

19.11         In a response to several Members’ questions regarding resources, the Chief Planning Officer explained that resources remained under  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

20.1           The Chair informed Members that with the agreement of the Chair of Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Committee this Item was to be deferred to the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on the 14 January 2021.

20.2            The Chair asked that the Item be added to the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan.

To review the Council’s Forthcoming Decisions List and identify any items to be brought before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Please note the most up to date version can be found via the Website:

THE FORTHCOMING DECISIONS LIST

It was RESOLVED: -

That the Forthcoming Decisions List be noted.

To agree the Work Plan

It was RESOLVED: -

That the Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan be noted.

To agree the Work Plan

It was RESOLVED: -

That the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan be noted.