Agenda item - Chair's Communications

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Agenda item

Chair's Communications

Minutes:

13.1      The Chair made the following statement:

       

I was informed this morning that both Councillor Tony Janio and our legal advisor, Alison Gatherer, have tested positive for Covid. Council rules quite rightly state that anyone testing positive must not attend meetings. Fortunately, Alison is feeling well enough to join us virtually.

Councillor Janio tells me he is also feeling well. However,

unfortunately for him, Government rules state that, unlike Council Officers or members of the public, elected Members have to attend meetings in person. Sadly, this means that Councillor Janio cannot contribute to today’s proceedings.

 

Of course, if the Government had listened to this Council, along with many others, when we lobbied them to allow Members to attend meetings virtually, Councillor Janio could also have joined us.

 

Many of you will remember that the last meeting of this Committee was interrupted by water pouring through the ceiling. Today, we are blessed with better weather, so I am confident that we can get through the three items left over from then plus the three items new to our agenda.

 

Before we do that though, I ought to point out to Members and those members of the public who keep a close eye on such things, that there will be some small but significant changes to some reports going forward. This is due to changes made to Building regulations last month.

 

Whilst we are often reminded by officers that Building Regulations form a separate legislative regime to planning; some of the new requirements within Building Regulations will supersede certain elements of what has previously been securing through conditions on planning applications.

 

Part L relates to conservation of Fuel and Power. This update goes beyond the energy conditions we have been applying to new dwellings. BREEAM standards in commercial developments will not be affected.

 

Part O designs out the need for energy-hungry air-conditioning systems in dwellings prone to overheating. This may result in a requirement for design changes to avoid overheating.

 

Part S considers Electrical Vehicle (EV) Charging Points and requires every new dwelling with associated parking to provide an EV charging point.

 

In each case, rather than attaching conditions, as we have had to do until now, informatives will be attached, making the new requirements clear.

 

 

 


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