Planning & Development Top of Agenda for Driffield Councillor

Planning and Development Enforcement was top of the agenda at the East Riding of Yorkshire Council's Scrutiny Meeting on Thursday.

 

Councillors insisted that the Head of the Planning Department should ensure that Parish and Town Councils were fully involved in planning enforcement matters and that feedback be made available to parishes when applications are amended.

 

Chairman of the Corporate Issues Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Felicity Temple said, "In a large authority such as the East Riding it is impossible for us to police every minor development or someone's new extension.  However, we know from our postbags that local people, and particularly the parish Councils, know very well when someone is building something they don't have permission for.  What we are asking is for the parish councils to become "eyes and ears" for the ERYC Planning Department, but they need to have all the information if they are to be fully engaged with us.   We understand that the Planning Department have recently held a series of workshops and representatives from 70 of the 170 parishes of the East Riding managed to attend, but I want the message to go out to all of them, they are important in the democratic process and both sides must engage."    Cllr Malcolm Jackson also raised the point: "Too often in the past amendments have been agreed between our officers and developers to approve changes to plans but these changes have not been fed back either to Ward Members or Parish Councils.  There is then an outcry from neighbours that the buildings aren't to plan and everybody gets naturally upset.  It's no use our officers saying it is okay if they don't let everyone else know! "  

 

The meeting also concluded that a further invitation be reissued to Parish Councils to attend the monthly area planning committees, which in common with all ERYC committee meetings are open to the public.   Cllr Temple noted, "Considering the number of parishes in the Northern Area, which encompasses parishes from Flamborough to Beeford and Langtoft to Hutton Cranswick, including Driffield and Bridlington, we get very few parish councillors coming to listen to the debate, even on planning applications that they are highly concerned about.   I often hear the accusation that nobody listens to the Town Council's view but if they came along they would see that their views are not only printed in the papers we receive, but we always highlight their views during the debate and take them into account.

 

The entire process of Planning Enforcement will  be thoroughly investigated at a special meeting to be held in January by the Scrutiny Committee.   The Planning Departments had recently moved from Goole and Bridlington to County Hall and new arrangements had been put in place to improve the efficiency of the Departments.  Cllr Temple and her colleagues welcomed these changes but also wanted a chance to get behind the usual reports and really look at what this department does and how best to do it.

 

Thursday 6th November 2003