Draft Planning and Building (Amendment No. 4) (Jersey) Law 200-.

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A decision made (20/11/2006) regarding Draft Planning and Building (Amendment No.4) (Jersey) Law 200-.

Subject:	Draft Planning and Building (Amendment No.4) (Jersey) Law 200-
Decision Reference:	MD-PE-2006-0212	Exempt clause(s):		n/a
Type of Report (oral or written):	Oral and written	Person Giving Report (if oral):		Peter Thorne
Telephone or e-mail Meeting?		Report File ref:		3/09
Written Report Title:	Report supporting Amendment	Written report – Author:		Peter Thorne
Decision: The Minister approved the proposed Amendment
Reason(s) for decision: To effect improvements in the operation of the Planning and Building Law 2002
Action required: PT to advise Greffier of the States of date requested for lodging
Signature: (Minister)			Date of Decision: 20 November 2006

Draft Planning and Building (Amendment No. 4) (Jersey) Law 200-.

Planning and Building (Amendment No.4) ( Jersey ) Law 200-

Report

This draft amendment will, if approved, amend the principal Law as follows:

Certification that applications made with land-owners knowledge

Earlier this year I made it clear that I was unhappy that it was possible to make an application for land without the owner’s knowledge. The reason for this was that there was no legal requirement to do so, either in the (now defunct) Island Planning Law 1964, or in the new Planning and Building Law 2002. I gave an assurance that I would ensure that this become a legal requirement.

The proposed amendment requires the applicant, where he is not the owner of the land to which the application relates, to submit with the application a certificate that the landowner has been informed of the application.

Composition of the Planning Applications Panel

It was a recommendation of the review of the planning and building functions by Chris Shepley Planning in 2005, that there should be an increase in the number of Members comprising the Panel.

There were two reasons for this:

(a) The difficulty of a Panel of only 3 adequately representing the full range of Island interests

(b) The unreasonable exposure of those 3 Members, particularly since the Panel’s affairs became public, to the risk of jeopardising their chances of re-election because of their unremitting duty to give objective attention to controversial applications.

Put simply – there is strength in numbers.

I concur with Shepley’s recommendation and propose that the Panel comprise up to 9 members, with the minimum number of 3 at any meeting of the Panel.

Changes in the way that some Building Bye-law matters are discharged

This allows specified certification functions under the Building Bye-laws to be undertaken by authorised professionals who are not States employees, particularly where the States may not have the capacity or skills to undertake those functions.

This will enable developers to use the services of suitably qualified professionals outside the States to certify compliance with the Building Bye-laws.

Protection of purchasers of land

This provision will, in effect, provide an amnesty from enforcement procedures for the owners of property, against any breaches of development controls committed more than 8 years previously. It will not absolve the perpetrator of the breach from possible prosecution, but it will reduce the burden on prospective purchasers of property, their lawyers and the Planning Department for conducting property searches beyond the previous eight years.

Conclusion

All of the above changes will, in my view, improve the operation of planning and building functions for users of the system and for the Department.

There are no cost or manpower implications in the proposed amendments

Senator F E Cohen

Minister for Planning and Environment

EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Statement of compatibility

The Minister for Planning and Environment has made the following statement:

In my view the provisions of the Draft Planning and Building (Amendment No 4) (Jersey) Law 200- are compatible with the Convention Rights.

Signed...............................................

Senator FE Cohen

Dated : 20 November 2006

Senator F E Cohen

Minister for Planning and Environment