Rother councillors agree to temporary decision-making powers

At a meeting held shortly before the prime minister’s address to the nation on Monday (March 23), a group of 13 councillors met in Bexhill Town Hall to discuss changing the council’s constitution, allowing meetings to be suspended until further notice.

Spaced out across a normally-packed chamber, the cross-party group of 13 – just above the 10 required for the council to be quorum – agreed to pass decision-making powers to officers in an effort to ensure urgent business can continue without councillors meeting. 

Before making their decision, members heard that the powers would only be used for ‘urgent’ and ‘time critical’ matters and even then only in consultation with senior councillors and a member of the opposition Conservative group.

Anthony Leonard, the council’s executive director for business operations, said: “As members are aware, these are unprecedented times.

“I will emphasise though this isn’t about trying to force business through. We will be taking urgent decisions and urgent decisions only.  If there are other decisions that can wait, then they will wait. 

“In taking those urgent decisions, which I suspect will be few and far between, they will be done in the appropriate manner set out here.”

Non-executive decisions – such as those taken by the council’s planning and licensing committees – would also be taken by senior officers, but done in consultation with the chairman (or vice-chair) of those committees.

However, this change to the planning process saw some concerns raised by Eleanor Kirby-Green (Con), ward councillor for Burwash and the Weald.

She said: “Maybe I am cynical but I am aware of a couple of local developers that might think this might be quite a good time to whack in a planning application. 

“Quite often the planning officers have recommended approval for applications in my ward, which have then been turned down by the planning committee.

“I just want reassurance that controversial planning applications are not going to go through without the planning committee looking at them.”

In response, Jonathan Vine-Hall, the council’s cabinet member for strategic planning (and planning committee chairman), said efforts were being made to work with developers to delay major applications where possible. 

In exceptional circumstances, he added, the council could potentially hold a small planning committee (with just enough members to be quorum) to consider an application. 

However, Dr Leonard confirmed the council did not expect to have any major applications requiring determination in the next few months. 

Councillors also agreed to suspend their minimum attendance requirements until further notice.

Other councils in East Sussex have already introduced similar measures in the past week, while East Sussex County Council had been set to meet today to do so. The East Sussex meeting was cancelled following the prime minister’s announcement, however.

Virtual council meetings (meaning a meeting held online or with members appearing via video conferencing) are currently prohibited by law for most authorities, but the government has said it is considering legislation to lift this ban in light of the coronavirus pandemic.