Councillor Keable advised that the Chair of the Joint Committee Councillor Denton was unable to attend the meeting due to ill health and requested agreement from the Committee that they were happy to proceed with the meeting with him as the Chair.

RESOLVED, that Councillor Keable be appointed as the Chair in the absence of Councillor Denton.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Denton, North Devon Council.

RESOLVED, that the minutes of the meeting held on 24^th October 2024 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Please telephone the Corporate and Community Services team to prepare a form for your signature before the meeting. Interests must be re-declared when the item is called. A declaration of interest under the Code of Conduct will be a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, an Other Registrable Interest or a Non-Registrable Interest.  If the item directly relates to your interest you must declare the interest and leave the room for the item, save in the case of Other Registrable Interests or Non-Registrable Interests where you may first speak on the item as a member of the public if provision has been made for the public to speak.  If the matter does not directly relate to your interest but still affects it then you must consider whether you are affected to a greater extent than most people and whether a reasonable person would consider your judgement to be clouded, if you are then you must leave the room for the item (although you may speak as a member of the public if provision has been made for the public to speak) or, if you are not, then you can declare the interest but still take part).

There were no declarations of interest announced.

The Joint Committee considered a report by the Finance Manager (NDC) (circulated previously) regarding the 2024/25 Building Control Partnership Trading Account for Quarter 3.

The Finance Manager gave the Committee the following summary:

·       Column one of the trading account table, showed the annual budget for each Authority.

·       Column two of the table showed the forecasted outturn for the year 2024/25 based on the quarter three information.

·       Overall, the figures were showing an adverse variance of £116,000, which was predominantly due to income, the majority of which related to North Devon Council and was an improvement of £14,000 across both authorities from quarter two and the volume changes had been reflected in the 2025/26 budget.

·       Column three of the table set out the percentage split of expenditure and income between the two authorities in greater detail and showed a split projected income of 63.06% for North Devon Council and 36.94% for Mid Devon District Council. The net effect on each authorities budget was shown at the bottom left of the table, which projected North Devon Council being £69,000 down and Mid Devon District Council being £47,000 down for the year. This was against the original split of 60:40.

·       Column four referred to the 75% chargeable element, with both authorities making a slight loss on the 75% chargeable element.

 RESOLVED, that the 2024/25 Building Control Partnership trading account Quarter three report be noted.

The Committee considered a report by the Building Control Manager (circulated previously) regarding the Building Control Business update.

The Building Control Manager drew the Committee’s attention to the following key points within the report:

·         The table on page 14 of the agenda detailed performance in relation to decisions taken within two months at 100%, which was against a target of 95%, plan examination response times with applications being examined within 3 weeks at 88%, which was against a target of 95% together with the average time to first response 24 days, which was against a target of 10 days.

·         The market share percentage for new housing completions had recovered since the last quarter but remained lower than anticipated at 29%, against a target of 40%.

·         The drop to 24 days to first response in quarter three was a direct result of the departure of the two Mid Devon permanent Inspectors, who left at the end of September and beginning of December 2024 respectively.

·         The long term aim for the service was to improvement in the three week and time to first response KPIs to help maintain its current market share.

·         The additional workload being created, implementing and undertaking the administration of the Building Safety Regulator regime changes and the Partnership’s continued resourcing issues, meant that any improvement in processing times remained unlikely.

·         The Partnership’s current performance levels meant it continued to meet its statutory obligations.

·         The Partnership continued with its re-building process but had received a further set back since the last committee meeting.

·         Appendix 1 - Copy of current organisational chart, December 2024.

·         Appendix 2 - Copy of the Organisational Chart, August 2024.

·         Appendix 3 - Copy of the Organisational Chart, Winter 2022.

·         Since the last Committee, the service had seen the departure of the Mid Devon Inspector to the Private Sector together with the resignation of the Mid Devon Principal Inspector who had moved to employment with a Registered Approver.

·         As detailed in appendix 1 of the report, this left the Partnership with three vacant posts all within the Mid Devon District Council team.

·         The vacant positions were all advertised week commencing 16th December 2024 and were about to close. To provide support to the service in the interim, Senior Management had therefore authorised a request to employ two temporary agency Inspectors.

·         Due to the national shortage of Inspectors the Partnership had only been successful in securing one agency Inspector.

·         Therefore, in the short term, the North Devon Council Inspectors would provide cover for Mid Devon District Council plan checking using overtime, while the remaining permanent Mid Devon District Council Class One Inspector and the agency Class Two Inspector would provide cover for the Mid Devon Inspections under Supervision of the Building Control Manager.

·         Before the festive break the Partnership reviewed its current retention strategy and the Market Supplements in place for the North Devon Council Inspector team.

·         The review established the current protection in place was the maximum permitted under current North Devon Council retention Policy.

·         With  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.