Planning Applications Panel: appointment of members.

STATES OF JERSEY

PLANNING APPLICATIONS PANEL: APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS

Lodged au Greffe on 11th November 2014 by the Minister for Planning and Environment

STATES GREFFE

2014   Price code: A  P.166

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to appoint, in accordance with Article 9A(2) of the Planning and Building (Jersey)  Law 2002,  the  following  persons  as  members  of  the  Planning Applications Panel (PAP) with immediate effect and until such time as the Planning and Building (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Law 2014 comes into force –

Connétable of St. Mary (nominated as Chairman) Connétable of Trinity (nominated as Vice-Chairman) Deputy Jeremy Martin Maçon of St. Saviour

Deputy Richard John Rondel of St. Helier

Deputy Graham John Truscott of St. Brelade

Deputy Russell Labey of St. Helier .

MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT

REPORT

The Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 provides that there should be a Planning Applications Panel (PAP) comprised of up to 9 States members; and that its members will be appointed by the States on the nomination of the Minister for Planning and Environment.

The Planning Applications Panel is constituted to consider applications for planning permission  and  similar  issues  in  a  public  forum  where  applicants  and  any  other interested parties can make representations directly to the Panel. The Panel then make decisions in light of a recommendation from the Department of the Environment and the representations they have received.

The  Planning  and  Building  (Amendment  No. 6)  (Jersey)  Law 2014,  which  was registered in the Royal Court on 17th October 2014 – effectively replaces the Planning Applications Panel with the Planning Applications Committee (PAC). The Committee will be established in accordance with standing orders under Article 48(1) of the States of Jersey Law 2005 and will operate independently of the Minister for Planning and Environment. This change is to allow separation of the functions of the Committee from the Minister so as to establish the Minister as an independent appellate body to consider appeals against planning decisions and similar issues.

The establishment of a new process for appeals against decisions made under the Planning and Building Law has been the subject of 2 States debates P.87/2013 and P.94/2014.

The Planning and Building (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Law 2014, brings into force the new appeals process agreed in those debates but is unlikely to come into force until the  end  of  January  2015  at  the  earliest.  This  is  because  there  are  consequential amendments to the Law required which I hope will be considered by the Assembly in January 2015. A concurrent Appointed Day Act will bring the amendments into force 7 days after the States Assembly agree the amendments.

After the Planning and Building (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Law 2014 comes into force, States members will then need to establish the Committee in accordance with the  relevant  standing  orders  which  themselves  will  be  debated  alongside  the consequential amendments. This means that the Committee will not be in a position to carry out their role until sometime after the States sitting in February at the earliest.

In the meantime the valuable role played by States members considering applications for planning permission needs to be accommodated and I would like to ask the States whether they are of the opinion that the following persons should be appointed as members of the Planning Applications Panel in accordance with Article 9A(2) of the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002

I would like to nominate –

the Connétable of St. Mary as the Chairman of the Panel.

This  brings  the  Chairman  of  the  Planning  Applications  Panel  into  line  with  the Scrutiny Chairmen nominations which receive endorsement as the Chairman by the States Assembly.

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P.166/2014

I would like to nominate the following States members for membership of the Panel –

1. Connétable of St. Mary (nominated as Chairman);
2. Connétable of Trinity (nominated as Vice-Chairman);
3. Deputy J.M. Maçon of St. Saviour ;
4. Deputy R.J. Rondel of St. Helier ;
5. Deputy G.J. Truscott of St. Brelade;
6. Deputy R. Labey of St Helier.

The membership of the Panel will continue until such time that the Planning and Building (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Law 2014 comes into force.

Please note that the Law allows for nominations only to be made by the Minister. If the  States  rejects  these  nominations,  the  Minister  can  nominate  another  States member, and so on, until the vacancies are filled.

Financial and manpower implications

There are no financial or manpower implications for the States arising from this proposition  as  PAP  runs  within  existing  mechanisms  of  the  Department  of  the Environment and the States Greffe.