Issue - meetings

(The Chairman agreed to the consideration of this item of business as a matter of urgency in order to reply to a question raised earlier in the meeting relating to the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee.)

Councillor P. M. McDonald referred to Planning Committee Minute No. 54/11 and, in particular, the response to the question raised by Councillor Mrs. C. M. McDonald at the last meeting of the Committee in connection with the withdrawal of planning applications ref.: 11/0426 and 11/0444.

Councillor McDonald asserted that, as the Committee had made a decision on the applications before the request to withdraw them had been received, and that the Council itself was the applicant in both instances, there was no scope for the applications to be withdrawn.  He stated that the Council, as a corporate body, would have been aware of the Committee's decision as soon as it was made.

The Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services responded and stated that there was no Case Law or principle which could be referred to in this specific instance.  However, she added that the applications were, in fact, submitted by a separate department of the Council who would not necessarily have been aware of the Committee's decision prior to withdrawing them; a detail which would not have been formally notified until the Decision Notice had been issued.

Councillor McDonald disputed this response in that it did not answer the initial question; that is, any Council department would be a part of the Council as a corporate body and that, if the Council makes a planning application to itself, and once a decision has been made, would that mean the decision had been conveyed to the Council at that precise moment? He added that this would mean there would be no 'window of opportunity' in which the application could have been withdrawn.

The Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services reiterated that there was no legal precedent or specific legislation for such circumstances but that it was felt that, just because the Council was the applicant in this case, the decision would not have been formally conveyed immediately upon the vote being taken by the Committee.  She added that, as an applicant, the Council would be treated in the same way as any other applicant for planning permission.  Furthermore, the Head of Planning and Regeneration Services stated that any application which may have been withdrawn in this way would also invalidate the applicant's right of appeal.

In closing the discussion, the Chairman stated that further legal advice would be sought on this matter, details of which would be reported back to a future meeting of the Committee.