Report by the Monitoring Officer.

The Monitoring Officer presented a report setting out issues with the making of historic Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs), which had not been properly made and implemented, with the result that their enforcement and the collection of payments in relation to them was unlawful as the Council had no legal basis to issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs).  The report set out the issues, the known financial and legal implications as well as the proposed next steps to address the matters. 

The Chief Executive also addressed the Council and commented on the Action Plan set out in Appendix 4, which had been developed to address the issues that had arisen with the making of TROs.  Delivery of the Action Plan would be reported to the Audit and Governance Committee to ensure there was councillor and public scrutiny of the progress being made to rectify the situation.

The Council noted that the report had the internal audit report from the Chief Internal Auditorattached as a confidential appendix.  The Monitoring Officer stated the main public report covered the issues raised and Councillors were therefore asked to indicate if they wished to discuss the confidential Appendix, which would require the removal of the press and public from the meeting.  The Council decided that it would be able to debate the item fully without going into private session.

The report had the following documents appended:

Appendix 1      Confidential Audit Report

Appendix 2      List of TROs incorrectly made

Appendix 3      Proposed scheme of Restitution

Appendix 4      Action Plan

The following motion was moved by Councillor Terry and seconded by Councillor Leng and CARRIED:

Resolved –

(1)            That the report be noted, including the Internal Audit Investigation Report at Confidential Appendix 1 and the schedule of errors requiring restitution in Appendix 2;

(2)        That the Scheme of Restitution set out at Appendix 3 to the report be approved;

(3)        That the Audit and Governance Committee be delegated authority to monitor the effectiveness of the Scheme of Restitution and to close it when it was satisfied that it had achieved its objectives;

(4)        That the Assistant Director for Planning, Transport and Public Protection be delegated to keep the Scheme of Restitution at Appendix 3 to the report under review and to make any amendments as may be necessary to it, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, the Director of Finance and the Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services;

(5)            That the Action Plan be approved as set out at Appendix 4 to the report;

(6)   That the Audit and Governance Committee be delegated authority to monitor delivery of the Action Plan as set out at Appendix 4 to the report;

(7)   That the Council’s decision not to move a motion to exclude the press and public, pursuant to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), to enable a specific debate on the detail of the internal audit report from the Chief Internal Auditor be noted.