Agenda and draft minutes

Minutes of meeting held on 10 December 2020 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting held on 10th December 2020 were accepted as a correct record. It was noted that these would be signed by the Chair when a paper copy was available.

There were no items of urgent business.

To receive declarations by Councillors of interests in respect of items on this Agenda. 

Councillors are reminded that, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011, they are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which have not already been declared in the Council’s Register of Interests. (It is a criminal offence not to declare a disclosable pecuniary interest either in the Register or at the meeting). 

Whilst not a legal requirement, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9 and in the interests of clarity and transparency, Councillors should declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which they have already declared in the Register, at this point in the meeting. 

In accordance with Part B Section 2 of the Code Of Conduct, Councillors are required to declare the existence and nature of any other interests as defined in paragraphs 8(1) or 9(2) of the Code of Conduct. 

There were no declarations of interest.

Item 5, Amendments to the Councils Constitution, started briefly and was then deferred by the Chair, with Councillors agreement, until later in the meeting in order to allow Councillor Paul Stubbins to take part. He was experiencing some technical issues with his audio connection.

Report of the Director of Economic Growth and Regeneration.

The Principal Planning Policy Officer presented a report of the Director of Economic Growth and Regeneration to advise the Committee on Part Two of the Government’s consultation on changes to Part L (conservation of fuel and power) and Part F (ventilation) of the Buildings Regulations for non-domestic building and dwellings; and overheating in new residential buildings. A consultation response was required to be submitted by 13^th April 2021. A draft response was appended to the report.

The Chair welcomed Patrick Cunningham from Barnet Council who provided further background on the proposed amendments to the Regulations and answered a number of questions from the Committee.

It was proposed by Councillor David Whitaker and seconded by Councillor Joan Jackson:

“That the recommendations as set out in the report be approved”.

It was agreed by all, and the Chair declared the proposal to be carried.

Resolved:

That the draft response to the consultation, at Appendix 1 of the Report, is submitted as a formal response from Lancaster City Council.

The Committee briefly attempted to return to Item 5, Amendments to the Councils Constitution, however Councillor Paul Stubbins’ audio connection was still malfunctioning and the item was deferred again to allow time for Councillor Stubbins to log on to a different device.

Report of the Director of Economic Growth and Regeneration.

The Planning Officer presented a report of the Director of Economic Growth and Regeneration informing the Committee of the consultation on draft revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the consultation on new National Model Design Code. Both documents were out for consultation with comments required by the 27^th March 2021. A draft response was appended to the report.

The Committee asked a number of questions which the Planning Officer responded to.

It was proposed by Councillor Joyce Pritchard and seconded by Councillor David Whitaker:

“That the recommendations as set out in the report be approved”.

It was agreed by all, and the Chair declared the proposal to be carried.

Resolved:

(1)        That the comments raised in appendix 1 of the Report are submitted to the

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as a formal response

from the City Council.

(2)     That officers keep Members informed of progress on the implementation of

these revisions.

Report of the Monitoring Officer.

It was noted that Councillor Paul Stubbins now had a fully functioning connection to the meeting and could take part from this point forwards.

The Monitoring Officer presented a report which required the Committee to consider several amendments to the constitution. The amendments were sent out in the report.

The Committee asked a number of questions relating to legal matters and the grounds for call-in which the Monitoring Officer responded to.

It was proposed by Councillor Paul Stubbins and seconded by Councillor Joan Jackson:

“That Members approve the requests for amendments to the Constitution detailed in the report, subject to the following change; that the words ‘other reasons’ in the grounds for call-in, in Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16 shown in 2.3 of the report, be replaced with ‘where due diligence has not been followed.”

Upon being put to the vote 4 Councillors voted in favour of the proposition. Councillor David Whitaker voting against and the Chair declared the proposal to be carried.

Councillor David Whitaker wished it to be noted in the minutes that he agreed with the officer recommendation that the words “or other reasons” be removed.

Resolved:

That Members approve the requests for amendments to the Constitution detailed in the report, subject to the following change; that the words ‘other reasons’ in the grounds for call-in, in Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16 shown in 2.3 of the report, be replaced with ‘where due diligence has not been followed’.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services.

The Head of Democratic Support presented a report which required the Committee to consider whether or not to respond to the Local Government Boundary Commission (LGBCE)’s current consultation requesting submissions of warding patterns for the City Council as part of the electoral review process.

The timeframe for warding proposals to be submitted to the LGBCE was 23^rd February – 3^rd May 2021. The LGBCE would then produce its warding proposals for the district and hold a further consultation on those proposals. This was scheduled to run from the 3^rd August – 11^th October 2021.

The Committee asked a number of questions which the Head of Democratic Services responded to.

It was proposed by Councillor Joyce Pritchard and seconded by Councillor Paul Stubbins:

“That the Committee does not submit warding pattern proposals on behalf of the Council to the LGBCE at this stage but does encourage groups to make their individual submissions to the timescales advised by the Boundary Commission.”

It was agreed by all, and the Chair declared the proposal to be carried.

Resolved:

That the Committee does not submit warding pattern proposals on behalf of the Council to the LGBCE at this stage but does encourage groups to make their individual submissions to the timescales advised by the Boundary Commission.