Agenda item
Cabinet Decision Called-in: Statement of Community Involvement
To consider Cabinet report (CAB 079/112) – the Statement of Community Involvement decision has been called-in.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Councillor Peter Golds in accordance with the provisions of Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution and also welcomed Pete Smith Development Control Manager, together with Helen Smith, Consultation and Engagement Officer, who were in attendance to respond to the call-in.
Councillor Golds presented the reasons for the call-in outlining his concerns. Following this he responded to questions from the Committee.
His concerns were as follows:
§ Approximately 40% of all major planning applications in London take place in Tower Hamlets;
§ Many residents had concerns about the way planning was conducted in the borough. They would therefore prefer to be notified about planning applications at an early stage to avoid repeating blunders from the past;
§ It seemed unreasonable to expect residents to regularly go online to check the planning applications submitted for Tower Hamlets on the slim chance that their locality may be affected by a planning application.
Pete Smith and Helen Smith submitted apologies for absence on behalf of Councillor Rabina Khan, Cabinet Member for Housing, and Owen Whalley, Head of Planning and Building Control. They responded and their points were summarised as follows:
· There was a six week consultation period;
· The Planning Department received approximately 2000 planning applications per year and sent out approximately 160,000 consultation letters;
· In light of increasing postal charges and taking into account that there was an approximate 2 % response rate [around 3,500 responses] from residents, this was considered a drain on the Council’s resources and a paperless system was therefore preferred.
Following concerns outlined by Members and officers’ responses to their questions, the following points emerged:
· Concern was expressed that a “one size fits all” approach had been adopted. The 2 % response rate quoted by officers was deemed misleading as Members often got direct feedback and received emails from concerned residents about planning applications;
· Officers were trying to ensure that residents had alternative, viable mechanisms to engage with the Council;
· They were currently looking at ways of setting up Members’ forums to address residents’ concerns. This was a working document and Members’ concerns would therefore be taken into account;
· The crossover between Licensing and Planning areas was an ever evolving one and Members were concerned that residents must be kept apprised of changes in their neighbourhoods;
· Navigating the Council’s website could sometimes be a challenge and the Council must strive to share information with residents proactively, therefore there might always be a need for a paper-based system.
Possible solutions
· Residents could be offered a menu system which enabled them to select the type of “information” they would like to receive from the Council;
· An online system which automatically “pushed out” information to residents via SMS texts;
· For those residents without internet access, senior managers were currently trying to find other ways of disseminating information, for instance through a hotline telephone system, one-stop shops, weekly publications etc;
· Equalities issues - officers pointed out that work was being done with “My Tower Hamlets[m1] ” for instance, to ensure that residents were able to engage more and were kept up to date with current planning applications;
· With regards to those residents with hearing or visual impairments, officers endeavoured to raise this with the Equalities team. Officers would also work with the IDEA stores to look at innovative ways of circulating information – for e.g. by making home visits to those who were home-bound or, providing help with using the computer;
· There would be closer liaising with colleagues at “My Tower Hamlets” to ensure there were alternative mechanisms for residents to engage.
Equalities
· Officers would try to address this issue by running a Communications campaign, involving residents on how to utilise “My Tower Hamlets”;
· For those individuals who were less conversant with IT, they would still receive notification letters and the hotline telephone number would be advertised;
· Residents can visit the Town Hall to view planning applications.
The Committee noted that the proposals were due to go out to consultation and did not wish to refer the report back to Cabinet for further consideration. Instead, they requested that officers take into account all the views expressed by Members and report back to the Committee before it was submitted to Cabinet. Their views were summarised as follows:
· Tower Hamlets had a diverse and mobile community, therefore it did not need a “one size fits all” approach, but a bespoke service that worked for its residents;
· Residents’ lack of awareness about important planning applications was of concern;
· The importance of Licensing, Entertainment and Planning matters should be shared with residents e.g. if there had been changes to delivery times and/or licensing and entertainment, these should be communicated to the community;
· Information could be shared through emails or texts;
· Disability issues should also be factored in.
RESOLVED
That the called-in report not be referred back to Cabinet for further consideration, but that officers note and comment on Members’ views as discussed and report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee before reporting to Cabinet.
[m1]This is a web based tool
Supporting documents:
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5.1 Statement of Community Involvement Call-in cover report, item 5.1
PDF 100 KB
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Statement of Community Involvement, item 5.1
PDF 87 KB
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Statement of Community Involvement Appx 1, item 5.1
PDF 99 KB
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Statement of Community Involvement Appx 2, item 5.1
PDF 115 KB