About us

Record of decisions and access to documents

We are committed to being open about the decisions we make. Many decisions are made by our members at meetings of the Broads Authority, Planning Committee and Risk, Audit and Governance Committee.

Details of the reports considered by each of these meetings and other committees and forums can be found on the Committees page.

The decisions made by each of the meetings are recorded in the minutes which are approved at the next meeting.

Decisions delegated to officers

As well as decisions made by the Broads Authority and its committees, we allow some decisions to be made directly by officers - either as an express delegation during a particular meeting or under a general authorisation (set out in our Scheme of Powers Delegated to Officers)

The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 mean a written record needs to be kept of certain delegated decisions taken by officers from 6 August 2014. The requirement to keep a written record applies only to decisions:

to grant a permission or licence;
that affects the rights of an individual (such as decisions about planning applications);
to award a contract or incur expenditure and which will materially affect the Authority's financial position.

The written record will be available for inspection at our offices and on the website as soon as reasonable practicable after it has been made, and will include:

the decision made and the date the decision was taken;
the reason/s for the decision;
any alternative options considered and rejected; and
any other background documents.

You will not be able to inspect some recorded decisions if the whole or part of the records contain confidential or exempt information as set out in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

The Authority's officers take many administrative and operational decisions on how they go about their day to day work and these do not need to be recorded. Such decisions might include:

Routine administrative and organisational decisions.
Decisions on operational matters such as changes to services and charges.
Decisions to award contracts or incur expenditure up to £30,000.

These are a few selected examples and not an exhaustive list.

Where to find records of officer decisions

Decisions relating to our land such as to grant wayleaves, licences, easements are held in our register of delegated decisions held at our head office and online
Planning decisions can be found in Planning Applications, Enforcement (No records of written decisions at present) and Tree Preservation Orders
Decisions relating to recreation, tourism and access such as to confirm orders creating, diverting, extinguishing or downgrading public paths (when there is no unresolved objection) can be found on the Recreation and Tourism page
Navigation decisions such as providing provide works licences can be found on the navigation decisions page

Awarding contracts or incurring expenditure above £30,000

While the award of contracts or expenditure set out here will not necessarily materially affect the Authority's financial position, in line with its commitment to openness of decision making, we provide a written record of each contract entered into following a tendering exercise.

Record of decisions and access to documents