Agenda item - Procedural Business

(a)  Declaration of Substitutes: Where Councillors are unable to attend a meeting, a substitute Member from the same Political Group may attend, speak and vote in their place for that meeting.

(b)  Declarations of Interest or Lobbying

(a)      Disclosable pecuniary interests;

(b)      Any other interests required to be registered under the local code;

(c)      Any other general interest as a result of which a decision on the matter might reasonably be regarded as affecting you or a partner more than a majority of other people or businesses in the ward/s affected by the decision.

In each case, you need to declare

(i)        the item on the agenda the interest relates to;

(ii)      the nature of the interest; and

(iii)     whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest or some other interest.

If unsure, Members should seek advice from the committee lawyer or administrator preferably before the meeting.

      (d)       All Members present to declare any instances of lobbying they have encountered regarding items on the agenda.

(c)  Exclusion of Press and Public: To consider whether, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, or the nature of the proceedings, the press and public should be excluded from the meeting when any of the following items are under consideration.

NOTE:  Any item appearing in Part 2 of the Agenda states in its heading the category under which the information disclosed in the report is exempt from disclosure and therefore not available to the public.

A list and description of the exempt categories is available for public inspection at Brighton and Hove Town Halls.

118a     Declarations of substitutes

118.1    Councillor Wealls declared that he was present in substitution for Councillor Cobb.

118b     Declarations of interests

118.2    Councillors Cattell, the Chair, Gilbey, C Theobald, Miller and Moonan declared that they had received e mail and been lobbied in relation to Application A, BH2018/02126, 29-31 New Church Road, Hove and B, BH2018/02598, Longley Industrial Estate, New England Street & Elder Place, Brighton. They confirmed that they remained of a neutral mind and would remain present at the meeting and take part in the decision making process

118.3    Councillor Miller referred to Applications F BH2018/03932, Unit 1, 75-79 East Street, Brighton and G BH2018/01926, Unit 4, The Savoy Centre, 100 Pool Valley, Brighton (the applications were linked), stating that having spoken in support of his letter of objection to Application BH2018/01926,he would leave the meeting and would take no part in the decision making process. It was also noted that he had been lobbied in respect of Applications D and E, that he remained of a neutral mind and would remain present at the meeting and take part in the decision making process.

118.4    Councillor Bennett stated that she had been lobbied in relation to Application A, BH2018/02126, 29-31 New Church Road, Hove by those who supported and those objecting to the scheme but that she remained of a neutral mind and would remain present and take part in the decision making process.

118.5    Councillor Littman referred to Application A, BH2018/02126, 29-31 New Church Road, Hove stating that he was familiar with the Synagogue site and had held his Bar Mitzvah there. He also stated that he had given general advice. He was however of a neutral mind had no pre-disposition in respect of the application and would remain present and take part in the decision making process.

118.6    Councillor O’Quinn referred to Applications F BH2018/03932, Unit 1, 75-79 East Street, Brighton and G BH2018/01926, Unit 4, The Savoy Centre, 100 Pool Valley, Brighton (the applications were linked),stating that she had sat on the Licensing Panel at which these applications had been determined under Licensing Legislation. It would not therefore be appropriate for her to determine the planning applications in respect of either of those sites and she would therefore leave the meeting during when they were considered and would take no part in the decision making process.

118c     Exclusion of the press and public

118.7    In accordance with Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (“the Act”), the Planning Committee considered whether the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any item of business on the grounds that it is likely in view of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during it, there would be disclosure to them of confidential information as defined in Section 100A (3) of the Act.

118.8    RESOLVED - That the public are not excluded from any item of business on the agenda.

118d     Use of mobile phones and tablets

118.9    The Chair requested Members ensure that their mobile phones were switched off, and where Members were using tablets to access agenda papers electronically ensure that these were switched to ‘aeroplane mode’.