Reduction in local democratic accountability?

Following on from the previous post; also the business of the 'Governmance Review Group' on 14th October was:

In regard to the operation of the current three Planning Application Committees...

In this regard, further information had been circulated in terms of the previous and current workload of the Planning Review Body, options for increasing the quality of video-conferencing in future and extending the webcasting facility to the Dingwall Chamber if this was considered to be necessary, the current position in terms of members of the public participating in planning and licensing hearings by video-conference and the cost implications and workload projections for the Planning Application Committees/Licensing Committees.

Following detailed discussion of all of the options as presented, Mr I Ross, seconded by Mrs I McCallum, MOVED approval of the Option to reduce the current 3 Committees to 2 Committees to align to the new two management areas for the Planning Service i.e. North and South Highland.

As an AMENDMENT, Mr B Clark, seconded by Mr G M Smith, moved approval of the Option to increase the number of Committees from three to six on the basis that these would be conjoined Planning and Licensing Committees for the six specified areas (with the proviso that individual areas could opt out of this arrangement if they so chose).

On a vote being taken, the MOTION received 6 votes and the AMENDMENT received 2 votes and the MOTION was therefore CARRIED.

Mr B Clark asked that his dissent be recorded in terms of the decision which had been taken.

At this point, an Options Paper was tabled at the meeting which contained suggestions as to how future Planning Application Committees could be configured. Specifically in regard to 2 Committees, it was suggested that these could comprise of a North Planning Application Committee (Wards 1-11) and South Planning Application Committee (Wards 12-22) with 2 x 11 Members (one Member from each Ward). It was confirmed that these Committees could meet on a monthly cycle from January 2012 with the provision of a Local Member Vote as at present.

During discussion, it was suggested that consideration should also be given to the provision of substitutes and that confirmation as to whether this would be feasible should be provided at the Council meeting if necessary.

Thereafter, it was therefore AGREED that the Option for reducing the current 3 Planning Application Committees to 2 Committees (North Planning Applications Committee and South Planning Applications Committee) with effect from January 2012 should be taken forward as the preferred option from the Governance Review Group as detailed for consideration and final decision at the full Council meeting on 27 October 2011.

So, that's 3 committees with 40 members reduced to 2 with 22 - but more on this in the next post...