Agenda and minutes

Minute of the meeting of 28 May 2015 to be approved and signed by the Chairman. (Copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of Meeting of 28 May 2015.         

DECISION

          APPROVED for signature by the Chairman.

Consider a briefing note by the Strategic Community Engagement Officer. (Copy attached).

With reference to paragraph 2 of the Minute of 26 March 2015, there had been circulated copies of a Briefing Note for consideration on ‘Support available to Community Councils from Scottish Borders Council’.   The paper was presented to the Committee by Ms Malster, Strategic Community Engagement Officer, and gave details of the internal funding available to Community Councils from Scottish Borders Council.  There were 69 community council areas in the Scottish Borders, all of which had operational Community Councils.   All received some level of financial support from the Council, with many receiving support to access funding through the Council’s internal grant schemes.   Direct funding sources from Scottish Borders Council detailed in the report included annual core grant, hall hire reimbursement and local community path maintenance grant.  Indirect support provided by the Council was provision of insurance and Data Protection registration.  Funding accessible to Community Councils included the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund (SCLF), Community Grant Scheme, Small Schemes, Quality of Life and Common Good.  The Committee welcomed the paper, however, requested an additional paragraph be added, advising that there were other external funds available and that the Council’s Funding and Projects Officer, Mrs Jean Robertson, would be pleased to advise on these.  The Briefing Note should then be circulated to Community Councils via email.   Democratic Services Officers would also distribute to Community Council representatives in attendance at Area Forums.

DECISION

AGREED:-

(a)       to add a paragraph to the Briefing Note stating that advice on other funding sources was available from the Council’s Funding and Project Officer;

(b)       to circulate the Briefing Note to all Community Councils via email; and

(c)       that Democratic Services Officers distribute copies of the Briefing Note to Community Councils’ representatives at Area Forum meetings.

(i)    Use of Enforcement Notices on owners of dangerous buildings/structures.

(ii)   Enforcement of Planning Conditions and Building Regulations.

(iii)  Building Inspection Regime while property is being constructed.

With reference to paragraph 6(a)(iii), (v) and (viii) of the Minute of 26 March  2015,  the Chairman welcomed the Lead Officer Enforcement, Mr Alan Gueldner and Lead Building Standards Surveyor, Mr James Whiteford, who were in attendance to give presentations on planning enforcement and the building inspection regime respectively.  Mr Gueldner began by referring to the legislation the Enforcement Team was governed by: Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997; Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997; Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations and Building (Scotland) Act 2003.   The Enforcement Team’s duties covered: unauthorised development, non-compliance with approved plans or conditions, Tree Preservation Orders (TROs), Listed Buildings, Compulsory Purchaser Orders, advertisement control and the proper maintenance of land.  The majority of their time (57%) was spent dealing with unauthorised development.   Mr Gueldner explained that the guidance encouraged resolution by negotiation and this had resulted in only 14 Notices being issued out of 156 cases referred in 2014.  Complaints were received from various sources - online, from Councillors or planning officers.   Mr Gueldner explained the procedure when dealing with a dangerous building was to initially request Building Services to assess.  If Building Services deemed the building was in a dangerous condition the Enforcement Team would then take immediate action.  However, if the building was not immediately dangerous they were required to go through the Notice procedure.  Contracts were appointed to undertake the necessary works and a Clerk of Works was appointed on site to oversee the works.   Mr Gueldner referred to a listed building located on Jedburgh High Street, which had been structurally unsound.  The Council had to compulsory purchase the building and demolish entirely.  It was now owned by the Council and on the market as a development site.   Mr Gueldner went on to give an example of a planning enforcement case of an unauthorised development at Craik Forest. The development had progressed to the Notice stage but the owner of the building had carried out the demolition work.   Another example was a tenement building in Hawick with water ingress, where the Council had to repair the roof of the building as the owner had not been able to afford the costs.  The bank had repossessed the building and sold it on.  The bank had recouped their costs as they had first charge on the property. The Council were now pursing the new owner to recover their costs.  The Team also dealt with emergency call outs, for example, recently they had been called out to a fire at Kingsmeadow in Peebles.  They had liaised with the Fire Service and erected fencing around the building for public safety.   In answer to Members’ questions Mr Gueldner clarified that dangerous walls near a public road or footpath would be passed to the Roads section and was not the responsibility of the Enforcement Team.  The Council was able to recoup contractors’ costs from owners of buildings, but chasing payment often proved difficult.

4.       Mr Whiteford, Lead Building Standards Surveyor,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The next meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday, 20 August 2015.

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to be held on 20 August 2015.

DECISION

NOTED.

Consider the private section of the Minute of the Meeting held on 28 May 2015. (Copy attached).

          PRIVATE BUSINESS

9.       DECISION

AGREED under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the business detailed in the Appendix to this Minute on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 8 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A to the Act.

SUMMARY OF PRIVATE BUSINESS

 MINUTE

1.    Members approved the private section of the Minute of 28 May 2015.

The meeting concluded at 11.35 am.