Agenda item

The Committee considered the monitoring report on planning appeals, which focused on ‘overturn’ appeals data and ‘costs’ data for 2019, 2020 and 2021. It was suggested, for future reports, that this would be linked to Government performance figures on appeals.

Officers had attached commentary to each year's report which looked at the proportion of appeals allowed in respect of member overturn decisions and overall appeal performance.  The report had also included details of the range of costs associated with defending appeals together with the key risks and financial implications. 

The previous six months had not presented a particularly clear picture on the trend of appeal decisions.  Delays in receiving appeal decisions remained significant.   

The report had recommended that, in future, this monitoring report be presented annually to the Committee as the timing of appeal decisions meant that twice yearly reporting did not present sufficient data to establish a trend or meaningful update.

The Chairman reported that, earlier in the day, he and a number of other councillors had received correspondence from a member of public in relation to the report alleging some inaccuracies in the figures, and requested that after officers had had the opportunity of reviewing the correspondence, the Committee be updated if necessary.

During the debate, the following points were raised:

·       It was suggested that, in addition to cost implications associated with defending appeals, there were environmental and social costs associated with inappropriate development and the Planning Committee should not be put under pressure to approve such development on the basis of financial cost implications of defending a refusal. In response, it was noted that those appeals that had been dismissed had demonstrated the extent to which officers had supported Councillor overturn decisions, but it was important for councillors to understand cost implications as part of responsible decision making.

·       In response to a request for an update on the number of appeals in respect of the non-determination of planning applications by the Council, the Interim Head of Place confirmed that with the continuing high workloads there had been an increase in non-determination appeals, however many of those were likely to have ended up at appeal in any event. It was suggested that future reports could include the number appeals submitted in respect of non-determination.

·       The Committee would be able to gauge the impact of the emerging Development Management Policies on appeals in future monitoring reports.

·       It was suggested that, given the time taken for appeal outcomes to be published and to ensure more meaningful trends and information can be reported, future monitoring reports should be submitted to the Committee annually.

·       It was also suggested that the summary table in paragraph 3.1 of the report could in future include the information provided as percentage figures and also show the total number of appeals in progress and some indication of the stage at which they were progressing.

Having considered the report, the Committee

RESOLVED: That the contents of the update report and data be noted and that future reports be presented annually.

Reason:

To enable the Committee to monitor the Council’s performance on planning appeals.