Tuesday, 25 February 2014

District Council meets to consider issue of Lobbying ... Weds 26th February

Tomorrow will see a very busy session of the full East Devon Council: 
http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/its_an_action_packed_agenda_for_eddc_full_council_next_wednesday

 The first motion will look at a very long-standing issue - that of lobbying:

10 Motion 1 – Lobbying

  "Openness and transparency in the planning process is vital. This Council therefore agrees to include an item on the agenda of all Development Management Committee and Planning Inspections Committee meetings, requiring Members of those committees to declare if and who they have been lobbied by, about items on the agenda."

 Proposed by Claire Wright, seconded by Roger Giles and supported by Susie Bond, Ben Ingham and Trevor Cope

www.eastdevon.gov.uk/26022014_-_council_agenda.pdf

 A comment:

1. At 03:27 pm on 17th Feb Paul wrote:
As I keep commenting, the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 places strong restrictions on the grounds for moving a discussion private. As I understand it, meetings cannot be held in private simply because the majority of the voting members of the meeting agree to it - there is a formal process that needs to be followed and the grounds for taking it private are limited to those explicitly provided for in the Act. The Local Government Act also makes it a statutory requirement for councils to make minutes available for viewing by the electorate.
Sooner or later this is going to go to the Local Government Ombudsman for their review, so the EDDC meeting chairmen need to be confident that their decision are lawful under the above regulations.
http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/its_an_action_packed_agenda_for_eddc_full_council_next_wednesday

 Lobbying members of planning committees is a concern for councils across the land:
Lobbying members of the Development Management Committee - Northumberland National Park
www.torbay.gov.uk/DemocraticServices/documents/s12982/37 Good Practice for Members Employees Planning Process.pdf
www3.hants.gov.uk/local_code_of_conduct_for_councillors_and_officers_dealing_with_planning_matters.pdf

 Lobbying has been an ongoing concern at East Devon too:
Futures Forum: Lobbying
Futures Forum: Lobbying and transparency, continued...
Futures Forum: Concerns about transparency and lobbying continue in East Devon: pt 1
Futures Forum: Concerns about transparency and lobbying continue in East Devon: pt 2
Futures Forum: Concerns about transparency and lobbying continue in East Devon: pt 3
Futures Forum: Concerns about transparency and lobbying continue in East Devon: pt 4
Futures Forum: Concerns for corruption in Local Government
Futures Forum: Concerns for corruption in Local Government: part two
Futures Forum: "Mounting risks for corruption in UK local government"
Futures Forum: "Mounting risks for corruption in UK local government" ...further developments
Futures Forum: Transparency and process in East Devon... continued: part two
Futures Forum: Transparency and process in East Devon... continued: part three
Futures Forum: Publishing 'pre-application' advice... making planning application information public... or not
Futures Forum: "The incidence of complaints in East Devon was 'way higher' than in other councils..."
Futures Forum: Development: 'commercial confidentiality', being held to 'ransom' and developers picking holes in each other’s sites.
Futures Forum: Who to blame when everything falls apart: the politics of planning decisions
Futures Forum: How to alienate your electorate and lose influence
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