Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chair for 2019/20.

Cllr Gareth Griffith was elected as Chair of the Joint Planning Policy Committee for the period 2019 - 2020.

To elect a Vice-chair for 2019/20.

Cllr Richard Dew was elected as Vice-Chair of the Joint Planning Policy Committee for the period 2019 - 2020.

To receive any apologies for absence

Cllr John Brynmor Hughes (GC)

Cllr Richard Owain Jones (IACC)

Rebeca Jones was welcomed, and wished well in her new post as Manager of the Joint Planning Policy Unit.

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

There were no declarations of personal interest.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration.

No urgent items were received.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 15 April 2019, be signed as a true record.

The minutes of the Committee held on 15 April 2019 were accepted as a true record.

To submit the Senior Finance Manager’s report (Gwynedd Council).

A report was presented by Ffion Madog Evans (Senior Finance Manager), which responded to a statutory requirement under Section 12 of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004, to report specifically on accounting and audit of Joint Committees' accounts.

It was explained that official returns had to be completed for the Wales Audit Office and these would be subject to a separate audit.

A copy of the forms were attached in Appendices A & B. The appointed Auditor, namely Deloitte, (external auditors appointed by Gwynedd Council) would audit the information. It was explained to the Committee that there was no need to re-submit the report to the Joint Planning Policy Committee in September 2019 (prior to certification by the Auditor), unless it was necessary to draw the Committee's attention to amendments recommended by the Appointed Auditor.   

Matters raised:

·                A question was asked in relation to the Accounting Statement for 2018 - 2019, and the inclusion of the total income in line 2 rather than line 3.

Response:

·                It was noted that the Auditors would look into the matter, although it was noted that any change would not affect the accounts.

Decision - The 'Revenue Income and Expenditure Account 2018/19' and the 'Annual Return' for the year ending 31 March 2019 were accepted and approved.  The Chairman signed the accounts, confirming that they had been approved by the Joint Planning Policy Committee.

To submit a report by Bob Thomas (Team Leader) Joint Planning Policy Unit.

Gareth Jones (Senior Planning and Public Protection Manager) gave an overview of the scrutiny process that had been followed by both Councils as part of the process of preparing the Guidance. It was noted that the Communities Scrutiny Committee (Gwynedd Council) and the Scrutiny Committee (Anglesey County Council) had been given an opportunity for pre-scrutiny of the Guidance, and had received a report on the public consultation that had been held on the Guidance.

For a number of reasons, no formal observations had been received on the Public Consultation Report by the Communities Scrutiny Committee (Gwynedd Council), following the statutory public consultation period which was undertaken in December 2018 and January 2019 on the Guidance (draft).

Reference was made to the fact that a legal opinion had been received a few days before the Committee meeting. Due to the receipt of the legal opinion, and the fact that the Scrutiny Committee had been unable to provide observations on the Public Consultation Report, it was recommended that the item be postponed, in order to:-

1)    Provide time, up to 5 July 2019, for the Communities Scrutiny Committee (Gwynedd Council) to submit its observations on the responses to the public consultation held between December 2018 and January 2019 to the Joint Planning Policy Unit.

2)    Provide time for the Unit to advise the Committee regarding the Scrutiny Committee's observations and the legal opinion that had been received that week.

3)    Submit an amended report to the Joint Planning Policy Committee that had been arranged for 17 July 2019.

It was noted that these reasons were consistent with the request to defer the decision on the SPG that had been received from the Scrutiny Committee.

Matters raised:

·         Concern was expressed about making a decision on the matter due to the risks associated.

·         It was questioned whether it was appropriate to consider the observations that had been received (from the Scrutiny Committee (Gwynedd Council) and the legal opinion) as they had been submitted after the public consultation period had ended.

Response:

·         It was noted that the Council had issued a clear statement confirming that the Council had complete faith in the SPG and that the Council's stance on the matter was entirely clear.

·         Due to the nature of the observations, and the fact that a legal opinion had been received, it was considered that it would be wise to give due consideration to the matter in order to respond fully.

Decision – To postpone the item until the next Joint Planning Policy Committee meeting that had been arranged for 17 July 2019.