Regulatory Boards

Barnsley Council has a range of semi-judicial or legal powers. These powers are exercised by the so-called Regulatory Boards.

There are four Regulatory Boards. These are:-

• The Planning Regulatory Board (which decides on planning applications to put up new buildings in the Borough etc).
  
• General Licensing Regulatory Board (this decides on applications from people who want to become taxi drivers etc).
  
• Statutory Licensing Regulatory Board (one of its big jobs is to decide on applications to extend the opening hours of pubs, clubs and fast food takeaways).
  
• Appeals & Awards Regulatory Board (this hears, for example, appeals from parents who have not been able to secure a place for their child at the school of their choice).

There is also a Standards Committee . The role of this committee is to hear complaints about the alleged bad conduct of Elected Members.

Members have important roles in terms of discharging the many regulatory, or quasi-judicial, responsibilities of the Authority.

These are many and varied and include, planning and building control applications; registration/inspection of homes, childminders, etc.; licensing of hackney carriages/private hire and public entertainments/amusement; appeals (e.g. school admissions); awards (e.g. student grants); enforcement of codes of conduct for Members and Officers; dealing with reports issued by the internal and external auditor, external inspectorates, Ombudsman and Monitoring Officer.

These regulatory responsibilities are now being discharged by the four Regulatory Boards which have clearly defined roles, membership and democratic practices.