Row over timing for key Sunderland City Council planning meetings

Earlier in 2020, Sunderland City Council reduced the number of planning committees from four to two as part of an update to its constitution.

Planning meetings involve councillors ruling on major developments on Wearside with the public often attending to share their views.

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New proposals from the authority’s Labour group for 2020/21 include Planning and Highways (West) taking place at 5.30pm and Planning and Highways (East) at 2pm.

Labour bosses said the earlier time slot would help the committee deal with expected workloads and “substantial agendas.”

However, the move was criticised by opposition councillors who claimed the new meeting time could affect public attendance.

Conservative councillor James Doyle said: “The Planning and Highways (East) committee will be instrumental in shaping our city and no doubt there will be many difficult and controversial decisions to be made over the coming months.

“Public engagement with these decisions is therefore crucial.

“I think it goes without saying that a 2pm meeting time that is proposed will conflict with, among many other things, work and childcare commitments held by both members of the committee and most importantly members of the public.”

The comments came during an extraordinary full council meeting which was held remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Liberal Democrat group leader, Coun Niall Hodson, also opposed the time slot and noted a previous council decision to hold planning meeting on a controversial Washington ‘gasification plant’ in the afternoon.

At the time, Washington and Sunderland West MP, Sharon Hodgson, criticised the 4.30pm slot and location of the meeting, saying it would limit the number of people who could attend.

Coun Hodson said: “I think it’s quite right that we should be learning from that and as a result moving this meeting back to a 5.30pm time slot, especially as there are so many key developments in the east area covered by that committee that we’re likely to see in the next year or two.”

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Several UKIP councillors criticised the move, with Coun Steven Bewick saying that the 2pm time slot could have an impact on public engagement and confidence in the planning department.

Meanwhile, Conservative councillor Michael Dixon added the issue wasn’t party political but about the residents of the city.

“I think there’s a vibrancy for planning meetings when the public do attend, we’ve had quite a few controversial issues down at Seaburn over the last council year and I thought it was absolutely fantastic to see so many speakers and members of the public in the council chamber gallery,” he said.

“I believe a move to 2pm does not help this process.”

Labour bosses said that the decision on the time of the Washington gasification plant meeting was linked to concerns about the length of proceedings – which ended up lasting around four hours.

Leader of Sunderland City Council, Coun Graeme Miller, said one of the main reasons for the 2pm start for Planning and Highways (East) was the expectation of “substantial agendas.”

He also stressed that “both committees [east and west] are different with different workloads.”

Coun Miller said: “The chair (Coun Michael Essl) believes that starting the [planning east] meeting at 5.30pm in the evening would drag those meetings on very late and that is something that he felt was unfair on staff, councillors and the public who will attend hence the earlier start time of 2pm.

“The time of a meeting will always be inconvenient for someone, I’m sure that the chair as the year goes through will continue to monitor what happens in his meetings and start times.”

An amendment to change the meeting time of Planning and Highways (East) to 5.30pm was defeated by a vote.

Original proposals for a 2pm start time were later approved with 44 votes in favour, 20 votes against and three abstentions.