The Corporate Director – Communities presented a report, the purpose of which, was to advise Members of the necessity to temporarily revise the Development Control Committee Code of Practice with regard to Committee site visits in light of the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

The Group Manager, Planning and Development Services advised, that the current Planning Code of Practice was adopted by the Development Control Committee in April 2017 and a copy of this document wasattached at Appendix 1 to the report. Section 9 refers to Committee site visits and outlines the criteria for undertaking a site visit and the procedures to be followed during the visit. Committee site visits may either be in the form of a Panel, i.e. Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and a Third Member or as a full site visit comprising all members of the Development Control Committee. In either situation, the local Ward Member, Town/Community Council Representative together with an objector who has requested to speak, the applicant/agent and relevant Officers will also normally attend.

The Code of Practice states that Development Control Committee site visits can be costly and cause delays. As such, it is important that they only be held where necessary (normally on the day prior to Committee) and where there is a material Planning objection. They are not meetings where decisions are made and neither are they public meetings but are essentially fact-finding exercises held for the benefit of Members where a proposed development may be difficult to visualise from the plans and supporting material. They may also be necessary for careful consideration of relationships to adjoining property or the general vicinity of the proposal due to its scale or effect on a Listed Building or Conservation Area for example.

He proceeded by stating that a request for a site visit made by the local Ward Member or another Member in response to being consulted on the proposed development must be submitted in writing or electronically within 21 days of notification of the application and shall clearly indicate the material planning reasons for the visit.

He felt that it should be pointed out that Officers will continue to visit sites where safe to do so and endeavour to provide as much information as possible including photographs, maps, aerial imagery and other relevant material such as ‘street viewing’ technology to assist members to make decisions on Planning applications.

In view of the current rules regarding social distancing, Committee Site visits would be extremely difficult to undertake safely under the current protocols. This was mainly due to the numbers of persons attending and the subsequent inability to observe safe distances as well as increased risk of encroaching onto highways or entering people’s homes. A Committee site visit should only be undertaken in exceptional circumstances.

The Group Manager – Planning and Development Services advised, that where it is agreed with the Chairperson that a site visit should be undertaken, it will be necessary to restrict the number of participants in order to comply with social distancing rules and should be in the form of a panel or an expanded panel involving a small number of additional Development Control Committee members (make up and numbers to be determined). Conditions on the ground will vary from site to site with some areas allowing more attendees. In any event, risk assessments will be required for each visit. Expanded panels will comprise of the normal panel (Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and third Member) as well as up to three additional members to be drawn from a pool of volunteers from the Development Control Committee.

 The Group Manager – Planning advised that to deal with future site visits using an expanded site visit panel an additional paragraph as outlined in Paragraph 5.5 of his report should be added to Section 9.2.1 of the Code of Practice.

It was considered that the proposals described above will be sufficient to allow some site visits to resume albeit in a restricted form and in exceptional circumstances. Members should note however, that any subsequent change in national or local Covid-19 regulations or advice may have an impact on the ability to carry out Committee site visits.

RESOLVED:                      1. That Members agreed the temporary change to the Code of Practice in relation to Committee site visits and further agreed to the setting up of expanded site visit panels where necessary and authorised the Group Manager Planning & Development Services and the Development & Building Control Manager to make the necessary arrangements in conjunction with the Chairperson. Members were asked to contact the Planning Department if they were interested in being part of the expanded site visit panels.

                                      2. That the temporary change should be in place for a period not exceeding 12 months from the date of decision or when Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, whichever is the soonest.