Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were submitted from Paul Fishwick and Pauline Helliar-Symons.

Chris Bowring and Peter Dennis attended the meeting as substitutes.

To receive any declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest.

To answer any public questions relating to the Call-In. A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice. The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this Committee.

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

There were no public questions.

To answer any Member questions on the Call-In.

There were no Member questions.

To consider a Call-In of the Executive Member Decision relating to the Wokingham Borough-wide Off Street Car Parks Order 2021.

The Committee considered two reports relating to the Call-In of an Individual Executive Member Decision (IEMD) relating to the proposed Wokingham Borough-wide Off Street Car Parks Order 2021. The first report, set out at Agenda pages 5 to 22, gave details of the Executive Member decision and the subsequent Call-In. The second report, set out at Agenda pages 23 to 26, set out the Officer response to the Call-In. 

The first report stated that an IEMD meeting was held on 16 December 2021 to consider the proposed Wokingham Borough-wide Off Street Car Parks Order 2021. The IEMD report stated that the Council needed to make changes to its existing Off-Street Borough Car Parks Order in line with the Borough-wide parking management improvement plan. The main purpose of these changes was stated as:

·           Enabling the Council to enforce against increasing instances of anti-social behaviour in existing car parks;

·           Providing a separate Order for existing and new Park and Ride car parks;

·           Responding to resident requests for clarity on charging;

·           Limiting the maximum stay permitted at California Crossroads car Park;

·           Incorporating provisions enabling the Council to designate electric vehicle charging parking bays in any Off-Street Car Parks.

Following consideration of the report, the decision was taken to:

·           Instruct officers to proceed with the making of relevant Off-street Car Parks Traffic Regulation Orders;

·           Instruct officers to write to all objectors and to advise them of this decision.

The report confirmed that Section 1.4.2 of the Council’s Constitution stated that all decisions of the Council will be made in accordance with the following principles:

a)     proportionality (i.e. the action must be proportionate to the desired outcome);

b)     due consultation and the taking of professional advice from Officers;

c)     human rights will be respected and considered at an early stage in the decision making process;

d)     a presumption in favour of openness;

e)     clarity of aims and desired outcomes; and

f)      when decisions are taken by the Executive, details of the options which were taken into account and the reasons for the decision will be recorded.

In line with the Council’s Constitution, the Individual Executive Member Decision was called-in, on 23 December 2021, by Councillors Boyt, Bray, Conway, Doran and Jones.

The Call-In was submitted on the basis that:

“The decision has contravened Section 1.4.2 a), d) and e) of the Council’s Constitution, insofar as it cannot be determined from the information provided, whether the action is proportionate to the desired outcome and 1.4.2 e) there is no clarity of aims and desired outcomes.”

The second report – the Officer response – stated that the decision to approve the Wokingham Borough-Wide Off-Street Car Parks Order 2021 and the preceding formal public consultations had been undertaken in accordance with the Council’s Constitution and the statutory requirements for a Traffic Regulation Order. This was the same approach that the Council followed for all other Traffic Regulation Order changes and was an open and transparent process which allowed the comments and objections of residents to be considered by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.