Issue - meetings

The Cabinet considered a proposed revised Equality Scheme for the Council.

The equality scheme was a statutory requirement under the Equalities Act 2010 which placed a duty on local authorities to publish information on how services impacted on users, how policies and procedures were assessed to make sure they were non-discriminatory, how equality objectives were being met and how stakeholders were consulted in developing the approach to equality and diversity.

The proposed scheme met these requirements and importantly it included an action plan on how the Council would deliver on its five equality objectives as introduced in the Equality Policy approved by the Cabinet in January 2018.

The action plan would be reviewed at each Equality Steering Group meeting with annual updates being provided to the Social Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The proposed revised scheme had also been considered at the meeting of the Social Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 10 September 2018.

It was moved by Councillor T.Kingsbury, seconded by Councillor M.Perkins and

RESOLVED:

That the new Equality Scheme, as endorsed by the Cabinet, be approved.

Recommendation from the meeting of the Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel on 14 December 2017 on approval of the report for publication.

Recommendation from the meeting of the Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel on 14 December 2017 on approval of the report for publication.

(1)        The Decision Taken

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) be approved for publication and that the Head of Planning be given delegated powers to agree any minor alterations to finalise the AMR following consultation with the Executive Member (Planning, Housing and Community).

(2)        Reasons for the Decision

The Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) had a number of purposes - it acted as a record of how the Borough’s population and places were performing and how much development was taking place, assessed how that met the Council’s targets and set out projections and expectations for future development and changes in the Borough’s population. It also set out progress against the Local Development Scheme, which set out when and how the Council would produce new planning documents and policies and reported on the Council’s efforts under the ‘duty to cooperate’ with other public authorities.

The 2016/17 AMR reported on the period from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017. Whilst for completeness this AMR also often referred to further development and changes which had taken place in the seven months since March 2017, it would be for the 2017/18 AMR to report on these in detail.

(Note:  There were no declarations of interest by a Member(s) in respect of the matter decided).