Coronavirus measures enacted by Council

At the Council’s monthly meeting on Thursday night, in which less than half of members were present but social distancing measures were put in place, Councillors voted to suspend all committee meetings and and put in place a scheme of delegation for planning.

This will increase the delegated authority given to the Planning Manager and ensure they have the delegated authority to make decisions in relation to development management and enforcement decisions and functions.

However, as the proposal was being debated in the chamber, the Council’s Chief Executive, Anthony Tohill, advised that the situation was changing at such a pace, the scheme of delegation for planning was, in essence, redundant.

“In respect of the planning committee, events have moved on from when this report was drafted,” he said.

“In fact, little activity is now going on in the planning department in terms of having reports ready for determination and I don’t think there is really going to be any opportunity to be at that stage until we are out the other side of this current situation.

“I therefore feel that we do not need to ask for delegated authority but in respect of the report I would still ask to suspend all committee meetings until further notice.”

This suggestion was met with scepticism from Independent Councillor Barry Monteith who asked Council to consider suspending all meetings.

“I welcome the report but I have concerns around these planning procedures,” said Cllr Monteith.

“It has ground to a stop now and we could be stopped here for a considerable period of time. It is worthwhile being hopeful, but we need to to consider the fact that other elected bodies are suspending activity altogether.

“In general I just have doubts in my mind about what the function of this meeting will be if all committees are suspended. I think with the technology available, we could be receiving information on a more frequent basis.

“As the Chief Executive notes, by the time you have completed a report it is out of date.

“The way things are moving we are behind the curve, the current structures do not serve the current circumstances what so ever and I do not see how we can function as normal.”

Deputy Chair, DUP Councillor Clement Cuthbertson welcomed the proposals and asked if the party group leaders could meet to review the situation in three weeks time.

However, this suggestion was rejected by Cllr Montieth, who claimed it would amount to independent councillors losing their voice.

“I object to that,” he said. “We are excluded from these meetings but we will not be silenced.”

Sinn Fein’s Cathal Mallaghan welcomed the proposal brought before the chamber and highlighted the potential impact planning will have in jump starting  the economy when the current crisis is in our past.

“Planning has the potential to help the economy,” said Cllr Mallaghan.

“In particular Council projects could play a vital role in helping our local economy prosper when this is all over but we do need to be aware that even with delegated authority, the Planning Manager can’t make those decisions.

“Should the opportunity arise, it would be wise to not take too long to get the committee up and running again.

“We are going to be in a very bad place when this is over and will need as many levers as possible that we can pull. I understand the rationale behind suspending the committees but we need to ensure we can get things moving quickly when the time comes.

“In terms of delegated authority it is already in the standing orders so I fully support it and we should review things on a daily basis.”

The proposal was subsequently approved by the Council.