(i) Payment of New Real Living Wage Rate - Motion by Councillors A Bailey and X McDade
Council notes that an increase in the Real Living Wage to £9 per hour was announced by the Living Wage Foundation in early November. This increase takes into account higher transport costs, private rents and council tax bills that have already hit the pockets of our staff. As an accredited Living Wage Employer, Council would ordinarily pass on the new rate effective 1 May 2019.
Council instead agrees to pay the new £9 per hour Real Living Wage rate effective 5 November 2018. The costs of doing so will be £15,300 to be funded from the projected under spend on the Unfunded Pensions budget reported to the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee on 28 November 2018. 114 staff members will benefit from this change. This position will be kept under review in future financial years.
(ii) Brexit - Motion by Councillors W Robertson and L Simpson
Following the excellent presentation by officers of this Council on the effects of Brexit on Perth and Kinross. It is expected to have significant economic and demographic consequences for this authority area. Depending on any terms agreed, there will be loss of access to markets and labour predicted to negatively affect the economy.
"Accordingly, Perth and Kinross Councill supports the holding of a further referendum to give the UK public the final say on any terms agreed for Brexit, that referendum to include the option of the UK remaining in the EU."
(iii) Equal Right of Appeal - Motion by Councillors C Purves and C Stewart
That the Council:
- notes the progress of the Planning (Scotland) Bill;
- acknowledges that development is crucial to future economic growth and to tackle the current under-supply of housing, particularly affordable housing;
- understands concerns from local communities about the effects that large-scale developments will have on their communities and supports efforts to address these through increased consultation and developer contributions;
- notes that the Scottish Government’s report on barriers to community engagement in planning found that “there is a serious lack of trust, respect and confidence in the system, and that community engagement exerts very little influence on planning outcomes”;
- endorses the Scottish Government’s suggestion of Local Place Plans as one way of giving local communities more influence over the forward-planning process;
- welcomes amendments by the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning and opposition parties to strengthen Local Place Plans to ensure that they are properly resourced, registered and taken into account in decision making;
- believes that any greater engagement of communities in the initial stages of the planning process will only be meaningful if Local Place Plans and Local Development Plans are adhered to;
- notes the current imbalance in the system whereby applicants can appeal decisions that go against them while communities cannot;
- therefore supports the concept of an equal right of appeal whereby:
- those who have made formal representation on a planning application would be able to appeal a local-authority decision to the Scottish Government’s Reporter in cases where the decision is contrary to the Local Development Plan or Local Place Plan, and
- appeals may be made by either the developer or communities where due process has not been followed;
- suggests that this would incentivize developers to bring forward better-quality applications in the first instance and therefore could reduce the number of appeals overall thereby speeding up the planning process; and
- requests that the Leader of the Council writes to Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning and the members of Local Government and Communities Committee informing them of the Council’s position.