Agenda item

Anyone may participate in public forum. The detailed arrangements for so

doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.

Please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:

Questions:

Written questions must be received three clear working days prior to the

meeting. For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received

at the latest by 5pm on Thursday 3^rd December 2020.

Petitions and statements:

Petitions and statements must be received by noon on the working day prior

to the meeting. For this meeting, this means that your submission must be

received at the latest by 12 Noon on Tuesday 8^th December 2020.

The statement should be addressed to the Service Director, Legal Services, c/o

The Democratic Services Team, City Hall, 3rd Floor Deanery Wing, College

Green, P O Box 3176, Bristol, BS3 9FS or email - democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

Anyone who wishes to present their public forum statement, question or

petition at the zoom meeting must register their interest by giving at least two

clear working days’ notice prior to the meeting by 2pm on Monday 7^th December 2020.

PLEASE NOTE THAT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE NEW STANDING ORDERS

AGREED BY BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL, YOU MUST SUBMIT EITHER A

STATEMENT, PETITION OR QUESTION TO ACCOMPANY YOUR REGISTER TO

SPEAK

Please note, your time allocated to speak may have to be strictly limited if

there are a lot of submissions. This may be as short as one minute.

Members of the Committee received Public Forum Statements in advance of the meeting.

The statements were heard before each application they related to and were taken fully into consideration by the Committee prior to reaching a decision.

Members of the Committee received Public Forum Statements in advance of the meeting. The statements were heard before each application they related to and were taken fully into consideration by the Committee prior to reaching a decision.

The Committee received a statement from David Sweeting in respect of Planning Application Number 20/02274/F which was previously approved at DCB Committee on 19th August 2020 –Address: Unit 7 Merton Road, Bristol.

Officers advised the Committee that the enforcement team had written to the developer for this application to request that they comply with the required pre-commencement conditions and that they desist from their current works which were different from what was approved.  It was noted that this matter could be escalated further as necessary.

Committee members expressed concern at this situation and made the following comments. Officers responded as indicated:

•            In situations such as this where conditions were repeatedly violated, the local community suffered. Urgent discussions were required with building and planning enforcement and the matter needed to be dealt with quickly.

•            This was a matter of great concern as applications were frequently only approved on the basis that certain conditions were adhered to. However, officers confirmed that conditions were legally binding

•            Whilst there had been attempts to negotiate with this developer, there seemed to have been difficulties with communications

•            Decisions were made on the understanding that conditions would be adhered to and these should be properly enforced. Notwithstanding any legal constraints, the process needed to take place quicker

•            Officers confirmed that they would check to see the number of complaints that had been received concerning enforcement and details of response rate. There were performance management statistics that could be provided. They acknowledged members concerns but pointed out that following a reduction in resource the enforcement team only consisted of 3.5 people for the whole city. Therefore, these could no longer operate on a proactive basis as they previously had done but relied very heavily on responding to complaints.

•            In response to concerns as to when officers could take action in such circumstances, officers confirmed that the management protocol in these situations required an initial period of negotiation and a small window of opportunity for the developer to act prior to enforcement action being taken. If a breach had occurred and compliance did not take place, an application could be made to the magistrate for enforcement action. However, care did need to be taken to follow the approach properly as the appellant did have a right of appeal. In the event that the Local Planning Authority were deemed to have acted in an excessive manner, they could be liable for compensation

•            Officers confirmed that the existing resource model for enforcement operated for a 5 year period and was cross-subsidised based on income.

At the end of the discussion, the following pieces of action for enforcement notices were agreed for officers:

•            An update on this specific enforcement action before and after Christmas as required

•            A briefing on how enforcement operates, including provision of enforcement information and timescales as well as resource constraints

•            Enforcement data over a year including numbers and results