Issue - meetings

To consider the Statement of Community Involvement report.

RESOLVED to:

I.              Adopt the amended Statement of Community Involvement appended to the report.

II.            To refer AECOM’s commission to carry out the Sustainability Appraisal update to the Scrutiny Committee, in light of a comment received by a member of the public.

The Chair presented the report on the Council’s updated Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), a document explaining to the community how and when they could be involved in the planning policy process, and the steps that would be taken to encourage this involvement. The council’s updated SCI had been sent out for consultation in early 2019 and considered by the Planning Policy Working Group (PPWG) on 19 March 2019. The group had recommended that Cabinet adopt the document subject to amendments outlined in the report.

Councillor Gregory raised the concerns of a resident who had accused the council of a ‘lack of truthfulness’ regarding the commissioning of AECOM to review the Sustainability Appraisal. He said there was a discrepancy between the appointment of AECOM to carry out the appraisal on 29 August and a payment to the company on 4 July. Furthermore, during the audio recording of the PPWG meeting on November 2018 it was stated that AECOM had begun work in June. This comment had not been corrected. He said a lack of transparency was at the heart of these concerns.

The Chair said there had been concerns at the Local Plan inspection in relation to the legality of the consultation, particularly with regards to the ‘focused changes’. He said the issue of legal process would be left with the Inspector and the Administration would await the Inspector’s feedback. In terms of the commissioning of the Sustainability Appraisal, he said AECOM had begun work in late June 2018, although Members were not made aware of this until October. He asked Cabinet whether this was an appropriate subject for Scrutiny to look at.   

RESOLVED to:

I.                     Adopt the amended Statement of Community Involvement appended to the report.

II.                    To refer AECOM’s commission to carry out the Sustainability Appraisal update to the Scrutiny Committee, in light of a comment received by a member of the public.