Agenda and minutes

To confirm as a true record the Minutes of the meeting held on 27 July 2021.

Councillor Jarman raised a point of order as he was aware of potential legal action involving the minutes and matters of the last meeting of the Planning Committee,  this had been confirmed by the Council’s legal department, it had also been reported in the press, he believed that any discussion and voting on the minutes would be reckless and undermined the Planning Committee and the Isle of wight Council. It would protract the legal process and generated unnecessary and disrupting discourse and incur costs, it would be inappropriate to go behind the legal process and propose that the consideration of the minutes and matters therein before conclusion of those legal proceedings, which was duly seconded.

The legal officer advised the Committee that the Isle of Wight Council were in receipt of an initial letter regarding the last meeting, it was not a pre action protocol letter and therefore not accurate to say legal proceedings had commenced. The time limit for a judicial review commences once the minutes had been resolved and the Planning permission had been issued. He concluded that there was no requirement to defer the minutes pending the outcome of the legal challenge, the minutes were not absolute final, they could be challenged in court.

Councillor Brodie sought a further point of order that the Chairman had indicated in writing to both himself and the Monitoring Officer that he would not take part in the consideration of the minutes of the previous Planning Committee and would excuse yourself form the meeting, He didn’t believe that he was in a position to deal with the point of order raised by Councillor Jarman and asked that he leave the room.

The Chairman advised that he had been about to explain that he would excuse himself from the item, he accepted the conflict of interest and was unaware that the point of order was going to be proposed and wanted to seek legal advice.

A short break was taken to allow the Chairman time to consider if he felt he was able to stay in the room for the consideration of the issues being raised.

The Chairman advised that as the Committee were moving into the issues regarding the minutes of the last meeting, he would leave the room to ensure the integrity of the Planning Committee, following advice from the Monitoring Officer, he then withdrew from the meeting.

He was asked by Councillor Brodie to confirm that leaving the meeting was his own decision and not that he was being forced out by the Monitoring Officer, the Chairman was not prepared to answer the question, he advised that as he was leaving showed he was independently making the decision.

The Vice Chairman took the Chair, he asked for Councillor Adams to withdraw statements that had been made against him and requested that he leave the meeting. He called for an adjournment.

The meeting reconvened and the Chairman sought a seconder to remove Councillor Adams from the meeting under Part 4B  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

To invite Members to declare any interest they might have in the matters on the agenda.

Councillor Chris Quirk declared a non-prejudicial interest in minute number 20 (a and b) (Land west of 40-48 & 37 to 47 Broadwood Lane 17 & 24 Forest Hills 2-20 &28 – 36 Arthur Moody Drive Carisbrooke) as he knew DM Associates.

Councillor Paul Fuller declared an interest in minute number 20 (c) (Land adjacent to 403, Newport Road, Cowes) as he was a Northwood Parish Councillor.

Questions are restricted to matters not on the agenda. Questions may be asked without notice but to guarantee a full reply at the meeting, a question must be put including the name and address of the questioner by delivery in writing or by electronic mail to Democratic Services at democratic.services@iow.gov.uk no later than two clear working days before the start of the meeting. Normally, Planning Committee is held on a Tuesday, therefore the deadline for written questions will be Thursday, 19 August 2021.

There were no public questions.

Planning applications and related matters.

Consideration was given to items 1 – 3 of the report of the Strategic Manager for Planning and Infrastructure Delivery.

A schedule of additional representations received after the printing of the report were submitted at the beginning of the meeting and were drawn to the attention of the Committee members when considering the applications. A note to that effect in the minutes.

Prior to the commencement of the application a point of order was raised regarding Councillor Lilley’s recent online survey where he stated as one of his priorities to stop large developments on greenfield sites and was asked if he believed he was in a position to take part in the applications on tonight’s Planning Committee and risk any refusal decision.

The Chairman responded advising that he had previously provided a written response regarding this matter and referred to a letter from the Department for Communities and Local Government pre-determination advice which highlighted Section 25 of the Localism Act 2011 clarified that a councillor was not to be regarded unable to act fairly or without bias if they participate in a decision on a matter simply because they had previously expressed a view or campaigned on it. He went on to explain that he had been involved in Planning over the years and had a record of making fair decisions based on the evidence provided and been fair and open minded.

To guarantee a reply to a question, a question  must be submitted in writing or by electronic mail to democratic.services@iow.gov.uk no later than Friday, 20 August 2021. A question may be asked at the meeting without prior notice but in these circumstances there is no guarantee that a full reply will be given at the meeting.

Councillor Warren Drew had submitted a question (MQ 12/21), he was advised he would receive a written response.