Decisions

The Chief Executive advised that neither the Chair nor Vice-Chair were present and had given their apologies for this meeting.  Therefore, Council needed to appoint a Chair for this meeting.

RESOLVED that in the absence of the Chair and Vice-Chair of Council that Councillor Biederman be appointed to Chair this meeting.

RESOLVED that the following minutes of the Governance Committee (circulated previously) be noted and adopted as follows:

(i)             27 September 2021

(a)  To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Walker

Councillor Worden advised that Councillor Walker was not present and requested that the Chief Executive provide an update on the latest position regarding Public Space Protection Orders in relation to dog control measures.

The Chief Executive advised that at a previous Council meeting, Council had discussed and approved Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) in relation to dog control measures. Included within the resolution of Council was to ensure that systems were put in place to enforce the PSPOs such as delegating enforcement powers to other groups such as Parish Councils and the National Trust to issue fixed penalty notices. Officers were currently in process of setting up training to enable such groups to start enforcing the PSPOs.

In response to a question, the Chief Executive advised that if he was unaware that 2 people had already received training but would check that they had been given the appropriate enforcement powers.

(b)  To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Patrinos

Councillor Patrinos presented his notice of motion to Council.

It was moved by Councillor Patrinos and seconded by Councillor Lofthouse that “The NDC planning department has recently been the subject of unjustified criticism and unsubstantiated allegations. Council wishes to express its support for the planning department as well as all the Council’s other officers in the way they carry out their duty in trying circumstances.”

The Chief Executive advised that it had been a particularly challenging time during the pandemic in relation to staffing. There had been media coverage recently regarding HGV vehicle driver shortages, however it was also difficult to recruit professional officers to the Council as previously the Council had relied on people relocating to the area, however as many were now working from home, this was no longer the case. Therefore, it was important that the Council as a whole continued to present the positives of the Council to make it easier to recruit staff in the future.  There was currently a shortage of professional planning officers as many were moving into a consultancy role. It was anticipated that in the future that the Council may need to consider recruiting agency staff.  During the pandemic, the planning team had dealt with a substantial increase in the number of planning applications received with less members of staff which had resulted in planning income received being over £100,000 over budget.  The planning team was still one of the best performing teams in the region.

RESOLVED that as the NDC planning department had recently been the subject of unjustified criticism and unsubstantiated allegations that Council wished to express its support for the planning department as well as all the Council’s other officers in the way they carry out their duty in trying circumstances.

(c)  To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Tucker

In the absence of Councillor Tucker, Councillor Worden presented the notice of motion to Council.

It was moved by Councillor Worden and seconded by Councillor Davis “that the notice of motion be referred to the Policy Development Panel meeting in October 2021 for consideration.”

RESOLVED that the notice of motion be referred to the Policy Development Panel meeting in October 2021 for consideration.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings held on 21 July and 26 July 2021 (circulated previously) be approved as correct records and signed by the Chair.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised Council that the Governance Committee meeting that was due to be held on 27 September 2021 was not quorate and therefore unable to consider and make recommendations to Council on the adoption of the Statement of Accounts, Annual Governance Statement and Letter of Representation. As the Governance Committee had not received the External Auditors report, Council needed to decide whether to proceed with the consideration of these items.  It was recommended that consideration of items 14 (a), 14(b) and 14(c) be deferred and that a special meeting of the Governance Committee be arranged in the third week of October 2021 to receive the External Auditors report followed by an Extraordinary meeting of Council to receive the recommendations of the Governance Committee in relation to the Statement of Accounts, Annual Governance Statement and Letter of Representation.   He advised that the Statement of Accounts were normally published at the end of September, however the External Auditors were still awaiting the Devon Pension fund report and therefore the External Auditors would not be ready to sign off the Statement of Accounts until October 2021.

It was moved by Councillor Roome and seconded by Councillor Bushell “that the recommendations of the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive be adopted.”

RESOLVED that consideration of the Statement of Accounts, Annual Governance Statement and Letter of Representation be deferred and that a special meeting of the Governance Committee be arranged in the third week of October 2021 to receive the External Auditors report followed by an Extraordinary meeting of Council to receive the recommendations of the Governance Committee in relation to the Statement of Accounts, Annual Governance Statement and Letter of Representation.  

Councillor Worden, Chair of the Strategy and Resources Committee reported the recommendations of the Strategy and Resources Committee on the Performance and Financial Management for Quarter 1 of 2021/22 (circulated previously).

It was moved by Councillor Worden and seconded by Councillor D. Spear “that minute 60 (f) of the Strategy and Resources Committee held on 6 September 2021 regarding the Performance and Financial Management for Quarter 1 of 2021/22 be adopted”.

RESOLVED that minute 60 (f) of the Strategy and Resources Committee held on 6 September 2021 regarding the Performance and Financial Management for Quarter 1 of 2021/22 be adopted.

Council considered a report by the Solicitor and Data Protection Officer (circulated previously) regarding update to the Constitution.

The Senior Solicitor and Monitoring Officer advised that as the Council had a new Senior Management Team there was a need to update the delegated powers within the Constitution to match the Heads of Service and senior officers that hold them. Other provisions within the Constitution were also required to be updated to reflect the current law.

It was moved by Councillor Leaver and seconded by Councillor Yabsley “that the recommendation be adopted”.

RESOLVED that the adoption of the amended version of the Constitution as appended to the report be approved.

Council considered a joint report by the Senior Solicitor/Monitoring Officer and Senior Corporate and Community Services Officer (circulated previously) regarding the appointment to the Independent Remuneration Panel.

The Senior Solicitor and Monitoring Officer advised that the vacancy had occurred following the resignation of a member of the Panel. A recruitment process had been undertaken and following advertisement 2 applications had been received.  Only 1 applicant had been able to attend an interview. Mr Russell was an exceptionally suitable and qualified person to fill the vacancy on the Panel.

It was moved by Councillor Worden and seconded by Councillor Lofthouse “that the recommendation be adopted”.

RESOLVED that Graham Russell be appointed to the Independent Remuneration Panel for a four year period.

RESOLVED that the following minutes of the Building Control Joint Committee (circulated previously) be noted and adopted as follows:

(i)             8 July 2021

RESOLVED that the following minutes of the Policy Development Committee (circulated previously) be noted and adopted as follows:

(i)             9 September 2021

RESOLVED that the following minutes of the Strategy and Resources Committee (circulated previously) be noted and adopted as follows:

(i)             2 August 2021

(ii)            6 September 2021

RESOLVED that the following minutes of the Planning Committee (circulated previously) be noted and adopted as follows:

(i)             11 August 2021

(ii)            1 September 2021

(iii)          8 September 2021

Council noted that Councillor Chesters had given her apologies for the meeting held on 1 September 2021.

RESOLVED that the following minutes of the Licensing and Community Safety Committee (circulated previously) be noted and adopted as follows:

(i)             10 August 2021

RESOLVED that the following minutes of the Harbour Board (circulated previously) be noted and adopted as follows:

(i)             10 August 2021

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2021 (circulated previously) be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Committee considered a report by the Sustainability and Climate Officer (circulated previously) regarding the revised Environmental Policy.

Councillor Lofthouse, Lead Member for Climate Change presented the revised Environmental Policy to the Committee.

RESOLVED that the revised Environmental Policy be endorsed.

The Chief Executive advised the Committee that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was carrying out consultation of the powers of the Police and Crime Commissioner.  A link to the consultation had been previously circulated to the Committee.  The Police and Crime Commissioner statutory powers were similar to those powers given to Local Authorities’ prior to 2011 i.e. specific powers set in legislation or directly incidental to powers and their functions. The Government’s view was that these powers were too restrictive.  Consultation was being undertaken on two options:

(1)  Police and Crime Commissioner to have a general power of competence (same as Local Authorities’)

(2)  Police and Crime Commissioner to have a wider functional power of competence (similar to Fire Authorities’)

He advised that the consultation would end on 27 October 2021 and that Local Authorities’ were being invited to submit a response.  He recommended that the Council’s response to the consultation was to put forward that the Police and Crime Commissioner have a wider functional power of competence as there was a need for Local Authorities to continue to work as a partner.  Other Local Authorities were also supporting this option.

RESOLVED that the response to the consultation on the powers of the Police and Crime Commissioner put forward that the Council strongly disagrees with the Police and Crime Commissioner having a general power of competence.

The Committee considered a report by the Parking Manager (circulated previously) regarding a review of oversized vehicle parking.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive highlighted the following:

·       A review had been undertaken following a notice of motion presented to Council on 26 September 2018 by Councillor Tucker requesting officers to look at the issue of enforcing larger vehicles overhanging bays and whether there was a justification in an increase of the number of oversized bays or the relining of all existing car parks to accommodate.

·       The Parking Manager had reviewed the data over the past 2 years following work that had been commenced by the previous Parking Manager.

·       The occupancy of all car parks across Barnstaple, Ilfracombe and South Molton had been and continued to be currently very high especially in light of increased visitor numbers to the area through a much longer seasonal period.  This trend was expected to continue. 

·       A schedule of planned works and maintenance that required immediate attention had been discussed by the Parking Manager and Property Maintenance Officer in September 2021. This had identified a need for some oversized bay parking in a small number of Council car parks but was not considered a high priority at this time. It was not viable to add larger bays in all NDC car parks as there was not capacity for this.

·       These planned works needed to be undertaken in a pragmatic manner.

·       An analysis of penalty charge notices issued between January 2018 and September 2021 had been carried out.  The data had shown that a small percentage of all penalty charge notices issued were for not parking correctly within the markings of a bay or space.

·       The current data showed that there was not a significant enough issue to justify the cost of relining all parking bays. Doing so throughout all car parks would result in losing a substantial amount of car parking. An example being Ilfracombe where this would exacerbate the issues already present due to demand exceeding supply in these car parks.

·       Provision for oversized vehicles in towns within the North Devon District area already existed. Larger bays were currently offered at Barnstaple – Bear Street, North Walk and Seven Brethren Lorry/Van Park Ilfracombe – Brookdale and Hillsborough South Molton – South Molton Central and Lorry Park.

·       There was a need to improve signage to advise of the larger bays available in those car parks.

·       A number of new projects being delivered involved the provision of car parking and with the early involvement with the Parking, Property and Technical teams could provide opportunities to identify potential areas for larger parking bays and needed to be considered as part of the wider strategy.

In response to questions, the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive and Parking Manager advised the following:

·       The Civil Enforcement Officers advised car park users of any potential contraventions in the first instance with a “warning” notice, followed by a penalty charge notice if the vehicle was in contravention again. However if the car park user was causing an obstruction, then a penalty charge notice would be issued. Car park users were also advised of the location of larger parking bays.

·       A review of signage in car parks and signage when driving into the town centres was already underway.

·       A list of the number and location of oversized parking spaces would be provided to Members.

RESOLVED:

(a)   That the contents of the report be noted;

(b)   That a further report be brought back to the Committee at the appropriate time to determine priorities on the future strategy of car parking in North Devon including asset utilisation, signage, pricing and options for customers to pay for parking usage.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive outlined the process to each candidate.  The interview panel asked questions of each candidate.

RESOLVED that it being 12.30 pm, the meeting continue in order for the remaining business to be transacted.

RESOLVED that it being 1.15 pm, the meeting be adjourned for 45 minutes for lunch.

At the end of the interviews, all of the scores from the Panel were collated. The Panel Chair checked individually with each Member to confirm that they were in agreement with recommending the candidate for the post.

RECOMMENDED:

(a)  That the candidate, Simon Fuller, be offered the post of Senior Solicitor and Monitoring Officer;

(b)  That Council resolve to appoint Simon Fuller to the post.

RESOLVED:

(a) That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item as it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended from time to time), namely information relating to any individual.

(b) That all documents and reports relating to the item be confirmed as “Not for Publication”

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised the Committee that Councillor Worden, who was Chair of the Committee had given his apologies for this meeting.  Therefore, the Committee needed to appoint a Chair for this meeting.

RESOLVED that in the absence of the Chair, that Councillor Prowse be appointed to Chair this meeting.