Issue - meetings

The Head of Finance introduced the report and explained that the Committee’s income shortfall of £1.5 million mainly resulted from the reduced income from planning and parking due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A second application to the Government’s Sales, Fees and Charges (SFC) scheme had been submitted, which would be used to offset the losses.

Within the revenue budget, a forecast overspend of around £45,000 against the Local Plan Review had arisen due to climate change assessments, the extension of specialist contracts and the local walking and cycling implementation plan. Capital expenditure had been minimal, but it was anticipated that the funds would be spent by the end of the financial year.

In response to questions, the Head of Finance confirmed that the funding received from the sales, fees and charges compensation scheme would be re-claimed by central government if the Council was deemed to have overclaimed. The £1 million set aside for the Council’s Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan, did not include funding for non-spatial policy formation being undertaken by the Spatial Planning Team. It was requested that further information on the feasibility of accessing the funds be added to the Committee Work Programme.

The Senior Business Analyst gave a performance update, informing the committee that two of the six key performance indicators (KPIs) achieved within 10% of their target. These were the Processing of planning applications: major applications, which saw an increase in applications of over 50% compared to the same period last year, and Processing of planning applications: minor applications.

Good performance was highlighted for Percentage of priority 1 enforcement cases dealt with in time, Percentage of priority 2 enforcement cases dealt with in time, and Number of affordable homes delivered, the latter having recovered from the poorer performance in Q1. The number of open enforcement cases for October 2020 was 313 and for November was 303.

Members requested that additional figures regarding enforcement, including the outcomes of closed cases and the status of open cases, be added to the Committee Work Programme. The Head of Planning and Development advised that providing further qualitative information would reduce the time available for Officers to spend on site. It was hoped that such information would be provided digitally in the future, to be retrieved by Members more readily.

The Director of Regeneration and Place referenced the relatively high staff turnover within the planning enforcement team. A redeployment of resources had been agreed; to fill the vacant team leader position and increase the number of staff site visits.

RESOLVED: That

1.  The Revenue position as at the end of Quarter 2 for 2020/21, including the actions being taken or proposed to improve the position, where significant variances have been identified, be noted;

2.  The Capital position at the end of Quarter 2 be noted; and

3.  The Performance position as at Quarter 2 for 2020/21, including the actions being taken or proposed to improve the position, where significant issues have been identified, be noted.