Scheme of Delegation for the Planning Department | Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council

S75 Equality And Good Relations Screening Form

General Information

Service/
Function
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Policy/
Procedure
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Project
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Strategy
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Plan
☐

Guidance
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Is this an existing, revised or a new function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance?
Existing ☐ Revised ☒ New ☐

Operational Area	Planning
Title	Scheme of Delegation for the Planning Department

Brief Summary
Part 4 Section 7(4)(b) of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 allows a Council committee to delegate certain matters to an officer of the Council. In relation to planning applications, enforcement and other planning matters the person appointed by the Council to exercise these powers is the Head of Planning and those senior officers nominated by this officer as detailed in the Scheme of Delegation.

What is it trying to achieve? (intended aims and outcomes)
The Scheme of Delegation sets out those decisions on the Planning function that must be determined by Planning Committee and those that are delegated to authorised officers.

Who owns and who implements each element of the function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance?
Planning Committee and the Planning Department

Other policies etc. which have a bearing on this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance?
The Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011; the Planning (Development Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014, The Northern Ireland Planning Monitor Framework, Council’s Standing Orders and The Northern Ireland Local Government Code of Conduct for Councillors.

Available Evidence
Evidence to help inform the screening process may take many forms. Public authorities should ensure that their screening decision is informed by relevant data.
What evidence/information (both qualitative and quantitative have you gathered to inform this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance? Specify details for relevant Section 75 categories.

A workshop was held with Elected Members and the issues raised have been incorporated into the revised Scheme. The Northern Ireland Planning Monitor Framework 2018/19 Annual Report. The Northern Ireland Planning Statistics 2018/19 Annual Report, NISRA Census 2011.

Section 75 Category	Details of Evidence/Information
Religious Beliefs	The NISRA Census 2011 found that the population of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council to be 48.36% Protestant/other Christian, 45.14% Roman Catholic, 0.65% other religions/Philosophies and 4.35% No religion/non stated. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless of an individual’s Religious Belief and will not create inequality based on Religious Belief.
Political Opinion	The NISRA Census 2011 found that the population of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council first preference votes to be 49.4% Unionist parties, 34.9% nationalist parties and 15.7% other parties/Independent. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless of an individual’s Political Opinion and will not create inequality based on Political Opinion.
Racial Group	The NISRA Census 2011 found that the population of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council to be 91.02% born in Northern Ireland, 4.99% born in rest of UK, 1.42% born in republic of Ireland, 1.45% born in rest of Europe and 1.06% born in rest of the World. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless of an individual’s Racial Group and will not create inequality based on Racial Group.
Age	The NISRA Census 2011 found that the population of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council to be 20.4% aged 0-15 years, 64.2% 16-64 years and 15.4% to be 65+ years. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless of an individual’s Age and will not create inequality based on Age.
Marital Status	The NISRA Census 2011 found that of the population of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council over the age of 16 years 34.77% single/never married, 53.09% married/remarried/separated/same-sex civil partnership, 5.54% divorced, 6.6% widowed/surviving partner from same-sex civil partnership. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless of an individual’s Marital Status and will not create inequality based on Marital Status.
Sexual Orientation	There are no specific figures available on the sexual orientation of the population of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless of an individual’s Sexual Orientation and will not create inequality based on Sexual Orientation.
Men and Women Generally	The NISRA Census 2011 found that the population of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council to be 49.46% male and 50.54% female. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless if an individual is a man or woman and will not create inequality based on whether an individual is a man or woman.
Dependants	The NISRA Census 2011 found that the households of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council to be 33.37% with dependent children and 9.6% of the population providing unpaid care. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless of whether an individual has dependents or not and will not create inequality based on whether an individual has dependents or not.
Disability	The NISRA Census 2011 found that the population of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council to be 20.17% with limiting long term illness, 80.02% with very good and good general health. The Scheme of Delegation applies equally across the whole Borough regardless of whether an individual’s has a disability or not and will not create inequality based on whether an individual has a disability or not.

Screening Questions
1. What is the likely impact on equality of opportunity for those affected by this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance?

Section 75 Category		Positive impact	Neutral	Negative impact	Reason
Gender	Women	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all genders
	Men	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Transgender men/women	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Other please specify	☐	☐	Major ☐ Minor ☐
Race (As used in the 2011 census)	Asian	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all race.
	Black	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Chinese	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Mixed race White	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
	Other please specify	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐
Disability	Long term health impairment could include mental health problems, asthma, heart conditions, chronic fatigue etc.	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all irrespective of disability
Sexual orientation	Heterosexual, lesbian, gay men, bisexual, others	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all irrespective of sexual orientation
Age	Older People	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all ages.
Age	Younger people and children	☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all ages.
Political Opinion		☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all irrespective of political opinion
Religious Belief		☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all irrespective of religious belief
Marital Status		☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all irrespective of martial status
Dependants		☐	☒	Major ☐ Minor ☐	This will have equal impact on all

Screening Questions 2. Are there opportunities to better promote equality of opportunity for people within any of the Section 75 categories?

Section 75 Category		If Yes, provide details	If No, provide details
Gender	Women		This will have equality of opportunity for all gender as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.
	Men
	Transgender men/women
	Other please specify
Race As used in the 2011 census.	Asian		This will have equality of opportunity for all race as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.
	Black
	Chinese
	Mixed race White
	Other please specify
Disability	Long term health impairment could include mental health problems, asthma, heart conditions, chronic fatigue etc.		This will have equality of opportunity for all with or without a disability as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.
Sexual orientation	Heterosexual, lesbian, gay men, bisexual, others		This will have equality of opportunity for all irrespective of sexual orientation as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.
Age	Older People, Younger people and children		This will have equality of opportunity for all ages as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.
Political Opinion			This will have equality of opportunity for all irrespective of political opinion as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.
Religious Belief			This will have equality of opportunity for all irrespective of religious belief as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.
Marital Status			This will have equality of opportunity for all irrespective of martial status as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.
Dependants			This will have equality of opportunity for all irrespective of whether they have dependents or not as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.

Screening Questions
3. To what extent is the policy likely to impact on good relations between people of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group?

Section 75 Category	Details of policy impact	Level of impact major/minor/none
Religious Belief		This does not distinguish between people of different religious beliefs
Political Opinion		This does not distinguish between people of different political opinion
Racial Group		This does not distinguish between people of different racial groups.

Screening Questions
4. Are there opportunities to better promote good relations between people of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group?

Section 75 Category	If Yes, provide details	If No, provide details
Religious Belief		This will have equality of opportunity for all irrespective of religious belief.
Political Opinion		This will have equality of opportunity for all irrespective of political opinion.
Racial Group		This will have equality of opportunity for all irrespective of race.


Additional Considerations
Generally speaking people can fall into more than one Section 75 category. Taking this into consideration, are there any potential impacts of the function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance on people with multiple identities? (For example: disabled minority ethnic people, disabled women, young Protestant men, young lesbians, gay and bisexual people.) It is not considered that this will impact greater on people with multiple identities as there are opportunities for them to participate in the process or have others participate on their behalf.

Provide details of data on the impact of the function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance on people with multiple identities. Specify the relevant Section 75 categories concerned.
This procedures impacts on all Section 75 categories equally. Those who participate in the planning process are from all Section 75 categories and there has been no evidence gathered or received to indicate that the procedure impacts on any category.

Disability Considerations Is there an opportunity to better promote positive attitudes towards disabled people by altering this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance? ☐ Yes ☒ No

If yes, please give further information and examples: N/A

Is there an opportunity to encourage participation by disabled people in public life by altering this function, service, policy, procedure, project, strategy, plan or guidance? ☐ Yes ☒ No

Please give further information and examples:
All sections of the community can participate in the planning process and avail of the opportunity to submit planning applications, make comments on planning applications and address the Planning Committee at its meeting. It allows for others to represent their views where they consider it difficult to do so themselves.
Screening Decision Likely Impact ☐ Major ☐ Minor ☒ None If the decision is to subject the policy to an equality impact assessment (i.e. likely impact – Major), please provide details of the reasons for this: N/A If the decision is not to conduct an equality impact assessment (i.e. likely impact = Minor) the Council should consider if the policy should be mitigated or an alternative policy be introduced: N/A
If the decision is not to conduct an equality impact assessment (i.e. likely impact = None), please provide details of the reasons for this: All sections of the community can participate in the planning process and avail of the opportunity to submit planning applications, make comments on planning applications and address the Planning Committee at its meeting. It allows for others to represent their views where they consider it difficult to do so themselves.

Mitigation
When the Council concludes that the likely impact is ‘Minor’ and an equality impact assessment is not to be conducted, the Council may consider mitigation to lessen the severity of any equality impact, or the introduction of an alternative policy to better promote equality of opportunity or good relations. Can the policy/decision be amended or changed or an alternative policy introduced to better promote equality of opportunity and/or good relations? ☐ Yes ☒ No
If YES, give the reasons to support your decision, together with the proposed changes/amendments or alternative policy: N/A

Timetabling And Prioritising
If the policy/decision has been ‘screened in’ for equality impact assessment, then please answer the following questions to determine its priority for timetabling the equality impact assessment. On a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 being the lowest priority and 3 the highest, assess the policy in terms of its priority for equality impact assessment.
Priority Criterion	Rating (1 to 3)
Effect on equality of opportunity and good relations	N/A
Social Need	N/A
Effect on people’s daily lives	N/A
Relevance to the Council’s functions	N/A

Monitoring
Please outline proposals for future monitoring of the policy/decision: The procedures will be reviewed at the request of Planning Committee Members at least 12 months after implementation.


Approval And Authorisation
Screened and Approved By Position/Job Title Date	Date
Head of Planning	07/02/2020

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*Sources:

Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT), Queen’s University Belfast and the Ulster University www.ark.ac.uk/nilt
5 https://www.ark.ac.uk/election...;

Northern Ireland Statistics website: www.nisra.gov.uk
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