Agenda item

To submit a report by the Head of Regulation and Economic Development and the Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer.

The report of the Head of Regulation and Economic Development and the Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer which sought the Executive’s endorsement for a scheme of delegation with regard to the Council carrying out its statutory function in relation to any development which is a National Significance Infrastructure Project (NSIP) was presented for consideration.

The report was introduced by Councillor Nicola Roberts, Portfolio Member for Planning, Public Protection and Climate Change.

The Energy Island Programme Manager provided an overview of the NSIP examination process and the Council’s statutory role in relation to an NSIP  and advised that it is considered necessary to have in place a scheme of delegation to ensure that the Council can effectively fulfil its statutory duties in terms of engaging with a project of scale that is a National Significance Infrastructure Project in order to be able to provide its submissions within the deadlines prescribed by the Planning Inspectorate and participate in the examination process either through hearings or inquiries. Due to the examination timetable being set by the Planning Inspectorate it is not possible to align the deadlines for the Council to submit representations and evidence with the Council’s committee cycle. For this reason, it is requested that the Executive supports a scheme of delegation that allows the Head of Regulation and Economic Development to carry out all statutory functions of the Council in relation to NSIP. The Energy Island Programme Manager gave assurance that every effort will be made at all stages to enable as much political input as possible via existing governance arrangements.

Similarly, the examination timetable confirmed by the Planning Inspectorate does not allow sufficient time for the translation of the Council’s submission by the submission date hence the request to depart from the requirements of the Council’s Welsh Language policy to allow for the Welsh translation of the Council’s submissions to the examination process to follow after the submission date. This will not affect the Council’s compliance with the statutory service delivery of Welsh Language standards which provide for the Welsh/bilingual communication with the public and other persons in Wales. A Welsh version of the Council’s submissions will be provided at all times and no documentation will be published or made available publicly until a Welsh translation is available.

Councillor Nicola Roberts added that the feasibility of writing to the Planning Inspectorate to highlight that the examination timetable as prescribed does not allow the submission of bilingual documentation with a view to the timetable being reviewed for the future to enable that to happen had been raised in informal discussions.

The Chief Executive advised that a letter to that effect would be sent to the Planning Inspectorate.

It was resolved to recommend to the Full Council that it support the following –

• To delegate to the Head of Regulation and Economic Development in consultation with the Leader (or such delegated to a Portfolio Holder as may be nominated by the Leader), to carry out all the Council’s statutory functions in relation to any development which is a National Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) and requires a Development Consent Order (DCO) as defined under the Planning Act 2008 as amended by the Secretary of State.
• The Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Head of Regulation and Economic Development to update section 3.5.3.10 of the Constitution to reflect the delegation given by the decision.
• Permission to deviate from the requirements of the Council’s Welsh Language Policy to allow the Welsh translation of the Council’s comments to be sent to the Planning Inspectorate after their submission in English. (This exception is required because the NSIP examination timetable does not include sufficient time for the Council’s comments to be translated by the submission date).