Agenda item

6.1       The Committee received a report which provided a review of planning            committee processes over the last 18 months. Members were reminded that     prior to the start of the Coronavirus pandemic the Council had already begun to review and take appropriate steps to enhance and digitise its planning       committee format to enhance the accessibility of the meetings and improve            the transparency of decision making on high profile and contentious             applications. In advance of the pandemic the ability for interested parties to      address the planning committees directly had been introduced in February      2019 and the live streaming of committee meetings, with additional functionality to ‘catch up’ on previous committee meeting recordings, was          introduced in February 2020.

6.2       In light of the initial coronavirus lockdown period, it was necessary to     incorporate ‘Covid Secure’ measures when hosting public meetings.             Consequently, following the coming into force of temporary enabling    legislation to allow virtual public meetings on 2 April 2020, the Council            switched from the use of the Civico system to use of Microsoft (MS) Teams        from 14 April 2020 onwards. Fully virtual meetings using MS Teams         commenced on 9 April and public speaking for Ward Councillors was             reintroduced at the Sub-Committee meeting on 12 May, with other speakers       able to make verbal representations from 26 May onwards.

6.3       Following the Government’s decision not to extend the temporary legislation    that enabled fully virtual committee meetings. From 7 May 2021 the Council         moved to a hybrid committee meeting format, which is compliant with the           requirements of the Local Government Act 1972 by ensuring that the             committee meets in a single location (the City Hall committee rooms) and that the meeting is publicly accessible for those members of the public who wish          to attend the meeting in person. Initially hybrid meetings are being held using   MS Teams, but the longer-term intension is to transition to use of Civico           software once the Civico remote app, which enables the use of the in-office      Civico equipment to be used in combination with remote attendees, has been    fully tested and demonstrated to be fully functional and compatible with the     Council’s corporate IT systems

6.4       Members held discussions and noted the following: -

·       That Planning Applications Sub-Committee viewing figures were extremely high in April 2020 and this was reported to be due to the unique format of these meetings and the attraction of interests from both the public and the private sectors at the time. The viewing figures have now transitioned to levels which are usually expected for these meetings and again peak when there are either large scale or contentious planning applications.

·       That there had been an increase in the number of speakers since the introduction of hybrid Planning Applications Sub-Committees and this was attributed to interested parties having better access to these meetings.

·       That the length of virtual and hybrid Planning Applications Sub-Committees had a longer duration in comparison to the physical meetings that were held prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Members were informed that the increase in the length of Sub-Committees could be attributed to the higher number of complex planning applications and/or the rise in numbers of speakers.

·       That Hybrid Meeting format offers the greatest benefits and fewest limitations for all participants

·       Members commented that the layout of Planning Applications Sub-Committee at City Hall should be reviewed, and that Officers should be seated near the Sub-Committee. Members advised that it was preferred for Officers to attend meetings in person rather than join remotely and commented that physical presence of all officers would ensure better interactions.

·       Members noted that the CIVICO system will enable the Planning Applications Sub-Committees to revert to their pre-covid layout and were informed that the hybrid meetings format was created to ensure that the meetings were compliant with current legislative provisions. The Committee were informed that there would be a review on the requirement for officers to be physically present at meetings.

·       Members welcomed and commented on the importance of them attending meeting physically and noted the benefits for speakers being able to join the Planning Applications Sub-Committees remotely. 

Resolved:

Members noted the contents of the report and agreed to provide comments to the Chair on their views about the proposed future format for planning sub-committee meetings having regard to their recent experiences of in-person, virtual and hybrid committee formats.