DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING
14:00 – 16:30 Thursday 10th December 2015 Conference Room, 231 George St, Glasgow, G1 1RX
14:00 Welcome and apologies CN
14:05 Forestry Commission (Syd House)
14:30 Minutes of last meeting and issues arising DM-15-04-01 CN
14:40 Scottish Government – update DM-15-04 -02 CD
14:55 Planning Review DM-15-04-03 CN
15:10 Scottish Water CH
15:30 Enforcement – update AG
15:40 DPEA Stakeholder Meeting – update ID
15:50 Police Estate – Removal from records CN
16:00 Pre-application charging CN
16:10 RIAS – Copyright CN
16:15 Roads Development Guidance – DM staff use DM-15-04-04 TM
16:20 Working Groups DM-15-04-05 TM
16:25 AOB - Meeting dates 2016
16:30 End of meeting
MEETING DATES 2015
TBC
LIST OF PAPERS
DM-15-04-01 Minutes of previous meeting page 3 DM-15-04-02 SG Update separate paper DM-15-04-03 HOPS Planning Review Submission separate paper DM-15-04-04 Roads Development Guidance (large file do not print) link DM-15-04-05 Working Group Membership separate paper
TELECONFERENCING DETAILS
Phone 0800 917 1956 Chairperson passcode 94894253 then # Participant passcode 75893879 then #
DM-15-04-01 - Minutes of Last Meeting
13:30 – 16:00 Thursday 10th September 2015 Conference Room, 11 Quarrywood Court, Livingston, EH54 6AX Attended: Chris Norman West Lothian (CN) Nancy Jamieson City of Edinburgh (NJ) Jim Miller North Ayrshire (JM) Alastair Hamilton Fife (AH) Ian Duguid Clackmannanshire (ID2) John Hayward Scottish Borders (JH) Kristian Smith Aberdeen City (KS) Bob Steedman East Dunbartonshire (BS1) David Bryce Renfrewshire (DB) Nick McLaren Inverclyde (NMcL) Graham Shankland East Renfrewshire (GS) David Suttie Dumfries and Galloway (DS) Nick Brian Perth and Kinross (NB) Ian Dryden Falkirk (ID1) Les Stevenson North Lanarkshire (LS) Tina Miekle South Lanarkshire (TM1) Keith Bathgate West Dunbartonshire (KB) Peter Arnsdorf Midlothian (PA) Paul Macari Dundee City (PM) Michael McClelland South Ayrshire (MMcL) Sarah Shaw Glasgow (SS) Alan Gueldner LLTNPA – Enforcement (AG) Cara Davidson Scottish Government (CD) Trevor Moffat Improvement Service (TM)
Teleconference: Facilities were unavailable
Apologies: Beverly Smith Moray (BS2) Ross McLaughlin Argyll and Bute (RM) Nicola Drummond Highland (ND) Gillian McCarney East Renfrewshire (GMc) Karen McChesney West Dunbartonshire (KMc) Ed Taylor Angus (ET) Jay Dawson Stirling (JD) Mairi Stewart Aberdeenshire (MS) Jane Shepherd CNPA (JS) Bob Cook LLTNPA (BC) Morag Ferguson CnES (MF)
1. Scottish Ombudsman (SPSO)
A copy of the presentation can be found following the link below:
SPSO Presentation DMSC 10.9.15.pdf
Some points to note were that they are now working to a 20 day timescale for responses, local authorities can contact the case officer during the investigation stage and are encouraged to do so.
Q+A session CN - Can a local authority revoke SPSO – No, but they can identify an administration or service failure
CN – Documentation provided to the SPSO SPSO – Electronic copies or webpages can be provided
JM – What are the time periods for dealing with cases SPSO – Early resolution 50 days. Investigation/Final Decision 260 days for a report
JH – What is the best way to identify what complainants are looking for; compensation, apology or lessons learned SPSO – A meeting set up with the complainant to discuss what is achievable is seen as the best method
ID – How to log time taken by officers on SPSO required reports SPSO – this should be reported to the SPSP officer.
A commentary on monthly findings is available each month on the SPSO website.
2. The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS)
Neil Baxter from RIAS attended the meeting to discuss planning applications and Copyright theft.
It was noted that the City of Edinburgh Councils portal wording covers copyright, this can be found here. Many agreed that much of this information should not stay online longer than is required.
RIAS, as well as the RTPI and RICS, have also been requested to review the Validation Standards work by the DMSC. Action: TM to forward a copy of the draft of the Validation Standards document
Neil shared information on the Scottish Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016, nominations can be forwarded to [email protected]
3. Minutes of last meeting
Minutes of the last meeting were agreed
Hazardous substances training will go ahead in Falkirk towards the end of the year Action: TM will forward details when finalised.
4. Scottish Government Update
A copy of the SG Development Management update can be found by following the link below
Development Management Sub Committee - SG update - September 2015.pdf
The Development Management Forum will be held on 24/11/15. Information on the SG website
The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’ rights, Alex Neil MSP, announced on 10 June that the Scottish Government would be looking again at aspects of the planning system. The Programme for Government, announced on 1 September, includes the review of the planning system with a focus on providing a quicker, more accessible and efficient planning process. Whilst Significant improvements have been made to the planning system in the last ten years but more needs to be done to support delivery of quality development and a high performing system.
Details of how the review will be carried out and opportunities for stakeholder involvement will all be confirmed in due course.
The Scottish Government is happy to review the Validation Standards document and to discuss what support SG can provide. Action: TM to forward a copy to CD for review
NJ highlighted an issue with the Historic Environment Scotland changes and circular 1/2015.
5. Enforcement Officers Forum
Alan Gueldner of Scottish Borders Council will be representing the enforcement forum for the foreseeable future.
AG discussed the recently updated Enforcement Manual. This is distinct from the enforcement charter and as a document sets out the enforcement officers role and acts as a reference. A copy of the Scottish Planning Enforcement Manual is now available on the HOPS Knowledge Hub Page. Action: TM to arrange for the author to attend a future meeting of the DMSC
Also discussed were the current fines that enforcement staff can use. These were not seen as proportional to other expenditures for Developers and were seen as something that could be reviewed in the upcoming reform.
6. DPEA Stakeholder Forum
AH attended the last DPEA meeting on behalf of ID.
They have appointed 4 new officers to help alleviate the backlog of cases and carry out work on local and structure plans.
CN raised the issue of changes in the appeals regulations Action: ID will raise this at the next stakeholder meeting
HOPS will be writing a letter to the DPEA about the supply of paper copies of all documents to the reporters. It is the view of HOPS that many documents can and should be provided electronically.
7. Obligations Tracking
CN queried the sub-committee about the use of tracking in Idox/Uniform of payment times and trigger points.
Idox provide a package to do this. Aberdeenshire currently have a license for this.
Falkirk plan to do this in Idox and the system will shortly be live. A planning monitoring group from all sectors meet quarterly to discuss this.
Aberdeen City does this in a non-Uniform based system.
8. Disposal of Legacy Cases
Marie Ferguson at the Scottish Government wrote a letter to all authorities stating the change in legacy cases. Any cases more than 1 year will be considered.
Authorities are dealing with these cases in a variety of manners.
Scottish Borders withdraw long term cases with no progress. Letters are sent to developers and cases withdrawn if no reply is received. If the case is challenged a new application is sought.
9. Open Space Management
Who has liability for open space management was discussed.
Action: This issue will be added to the workstream for the sub-committee. A set of common conditions may be collated
10. Pre-application Charging
CN wanted to discuss the different options to make this possible. Currently only Highland and Fife Councils use any sort of charging for this.
NJ stated that the City of Edinburgh lawyers questioned the legality of charging within the current legislation.
Scottish Borders are currently researching possible options to do this. They have a considered a range of charging options dependant on the complexity of the application: Desktop research - £30 Meeting with planning officer- £100
Half day workshop - £250 Full stakeholder meeting - £750
11. AOB
The validation standards document by Argyll and Bute will be recirculated to the sub-committee Action: TM to recirculate the most recent version
The Knowledge Hub is now being used for information requests. It has been noted that the response rate has fallen significantly. Action: TM to email weekly when there are requests on the forum.
The Forestry Commission will be invited to speak at the next meeting. There have been changes to the permitted development rights.
Ruth Mulvenna project manager of Tell Me Scotland provided a brief update on the project. Currently 26 of the 29 authorities uploading to the portal are providing information on planning applications as well as 21 other organisation. Planning is the most frequently used area of Tell Me Scotland. Ruth can be contacted at [email protected]
Police Scotland requested information about the availability of Police Estate plans. The consensus was that this needs to be put forward by the agent on a case by case basis if there is sensitive material. Action: CN will respond on behalf of the DMSC