Has anyone else come across this yet? The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 comes into force on 31st July 2014. They were only laid in Parliament on July 3rd, so no time at all before they come into force. I only found out about them yesterday.

The Regulations deal with the filming and recording of meetings and publication requirements for decisions made by officers. It would appear that any decisions delegated to officers that:

• Grants a permission or licence
• Affects the rights of an individual
• Awards a contract or incur expenditure which materially effects the local authorities financial position

will need to be recorded.

The officer making the decision will need to produce a written record as soon as practical after taking the decision which must cover:

• The date the decision was taken
• What the decision was and the reasons for the decision
• Details of alternative options considered and why they were rejected
• In the case of express delegations any member who declared a conflict of interest
• Any background papers they have used (non-published which has been materially relied upon in writing a report)

The decision must be made available for inspection by public:

• at the offices of the relevant local government body
• on the website of the relevant local government body
• by other such means that the relevant local government body considers appropriate

I’m not concerned about TPO applications for consent, Section 211 Notices and Hedgerow Removal Notices as these would all be web-enabled and available to the public. However, there are other areas of work which require decisions and are not currently publicised:

• TPO Replacement Planting Notices
• Replacement Hedgerow Notices
• Work under the Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976
• Requests for TPO’s to be served
• Dealing with dead/dangerous trees
• High Hedge Remedial works Notices

The list could go on. Anyway, I thought I would highlight this to you as the deadline is imminent.  I’ve not thought how I’m going to record this information yet.  Meetings next week to see how to progress this.  If any of you are aware of these Regs. and have already something in place then I’m sure we all would appreciate some help on this. If you are not aware of them, then you are now!

R Rose