The Committee considered and discussed the ongoing progress of actions from the special meetings of the Committee.

The Chair advised that there was a requirement for a more structured and focussed way to manage and report upon progress of each special meeting.

a)    Water quality within the North Devon area held on 29^th February 2024:

The Committee considered the previous update provided by Councillor Jones on 2^nd July 2024.

Councillor Jones advised that since his last update there had not been a huge amount of progress. The meeting with members from Torridge  District Council was delayed due to the General Election. He added that if any additional Members wished to be part of the working group they were more than welcome to join.

He advised that he would organise a meeting with the working group to catch up on the progress made to date and to discuss a proposed way forward. He added that he would be attending a Westcountry Rivers Trust conference that forthcoming weekend together with a few fellow Members.

He was also due to meet with the local MP to discuss water and pollution issues within the North Devon area.

Councillor Jones provide an update in relation to the following:

·       Regular testing had continued on Little Dart catchment and the samples had continued to indicate the presence of phosphates. The Environment Agency had investigated the findings and whilst there had been no follow up response, he had observed that there was now a cover over the slurry pit in the valley and the most recent tests were now running clear. 

·       There had been challenges regarding the detection of phosphates from testing undertaken beneath Rackenford Sewage Treatment works. South West Water had investigated the findings but had concluded that there was no issue. However, their testing processes were designed to detect ammonia, whilst the kits that had been used to detect the issue were designed to look for phosphates.

This issue would be followed up with the Westcountry Rivers Trust.

·       On 26^th October 2024 there was a “March for Clean Water” being held in London, which Councillor Jones would be attending.

·       Pharmaceutical levels in rivers up on Exmoor were the highest in the country.

·       The outcomes of the special meeting held on 29^th February 2024 should be feed into the development of the new Local Plan and the actions from the meeting should be sent to the Local MP.

In response to concerns regarding planning applications that were grant depended and farmers concerns that they would lose their grants due to delay. The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that any applications that were grant dependent should be clearly stated on the application. He added that by making this clear on the application the team could ensure that any applications of that nature were drawn out and dealt with accordingly.

b)    Agriculture within the North Devon area held on 23^rd May 2024: To consider the impact of agriculture within the North Devon area

The Committee considered the previous update provided by Councillor Bulled on 24^th May 2024.

Councillor Bulled made the following statement:

North Devon was a rural economy with many protected and important sites. A quality local plan was vital in terms of ensuring biodiversity gain, net zero emissions and locally produced food.

She advised that she had spoken with the Chief Executive of North Devon Council at length and he had advised that agriculture had its own section within the Council’s Economic Strategy together with full integration within the new Local Plan.

There had been concerns raised within the farming community with regards to delays in the planning process together with the impact of those delays with regards to the potential loss of grant funding.

In response to the above, the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that the planning team were currently three weeks behind in terms of registering planning applications. However, the backlog was being addressed through additional resources. He added that communication between both the applicant and the authority was a key component and vital to the process and that all information was required at the first opportunity to ensure that nothing was missed.

He added that if Members had specific examples of delays and issues with potential loss of grant funding he would be interested to see them. In terms of the length of time taken to process applications, he advised that he was not aware of a wider issue within the service as there had only been two complaints raised in relation to the length of time taken on planning applications since January 2024 together with 10 compliments received around the service customers had experienced.

Councillor Jones emphasised the importance of supporting the local agricultural industry together with the utilisation of social media to promote British farming and requested that a Notice of Motion be presented to Full Council to that affect.

Councillor P. Leaver echoed Councillor Jones’s statement and advised that planning officers were bound by statutory requirements, based on public consultation together with a duty to advertise applications to the public prior to a final decision being taken. He added that any issues with grant applications was a government issue and not a Council issue.

Councillor Bulled advised that by voting against the motion for a plant based farming alternative at Full Council on 17^th July 2024, the Council had shown its support to the local farming community.

She added that other Councils had also voted against similar motions and encouraged all Members to attend the farm walk, which was being held on Tuesday 24^th September 2024.

She explained that the Committee needed to be specific in terms of any Notice of Motion that it presented to Full Council as agriculture already featured in the Council’s Economic Strategy and the existing Local Plan and questioned what the Council could add to what had already been done so far.

The Chair advised that the Committee should make a recommendation to Full Council.

In response to a question regarding the delays with regards to the planning application validation process, the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that as already outlined there was currently a three week backlog within the team and that resources had been increased with an aim to reduce the three week period wait times. He refuted the claim that the planning process was holding back the agricultural sector and added that an increasing number of applications were being determined within the eight weeks without the requirement for an extension of time and that the team were working as hard as they could.

Councillor Maddocks explained grants that were currently available to the agricultural sector were being processed and awarded via the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and that the cut-off date was March 2025. He added that he had noticed that an increasing number of famers were contacting him following the special meeting.

36.      ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING

RESOLVED that it being 7:54 pm that the meeting be adjourned for a period of five minutes to enable the Members to prepare a recommendation to Full Council.

RESOLVED that it being 8.01 pm the meeting be reconvened.

RESOLVED, that that recommendation to Full Council be deferred until the next meeting of the Committee to allow Members sufficient time to formulate the wording to be considered and voted on by the Committee.

c)    Dental provision within the North Devon area held on 18^th July 2024: To consider and discuss dental provision within the North Devon area.

Councillor Patrinos advised that since the special meeting of the Committee held on 18^th July 2024 he had yet to reconvene of the dentistry working group.

He explained that the new MP for North Devon had recently been appointed to the Government’s Dentistry Committee, which he hoped that would enable a more direct route to raise ongoing concerns.