 Outbreak Prevention Weekly Update 30 July
 Arrangements for Forthcoming Online Meetings
Wednesday 5 August - COVID TFG (5.30pm)
Thursday 6 August - Development Control Committee (7.00pm)
Meeting invites will be sent to Committee Members directly and a link to join the meetings will also be circulated by email to all councillors early next week. Any councillors wishing to ask questions, or speak on items can join the meeting and raise their hand at the relevant agenda item. For these and all future remote meetings, Councillors can use this number (07557 312 972) to alert the clerk/chair of connectivity issues
MKC gets gold award for armed forces support
 MKC’s support of the Armed Forces Community has been awarded gold status in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme. The scheme encourages employers across the country to do more for the armed forces in their area. MKC signed the Armed Forces Covenant in 2012, and support MK’s service personnel community in many ways, including a guaranteed veteran interview scheme. We achieved bronze status in 2016 and silver in 2019. We’re proud of colleagues who are reservists and adult cadet force volunteers. Thank you to those whose hard work has led us to this achievement.
Cyber Attack
Earlier this month we sent out an internal phishing email to assess colleagues’ and councillors response to a potential cyber attack at MKC. The email included a link to join a fake Zoom call. More than 140 colleagues and councillors clicked the link which, if it was a legitimate threat, would have exposed MK Council and potentially compromised our IT systems. Well done to those who reported the email to IT colleagues straight away, but for those who didn’t, here are some learning tips to look out for in future:
- The email subject line was marked EXT (for external) and was misspelt
- The sender didn’t provide a name and there was no MKC signature tag
- It urged quick action
- It contained merged fields and different font sizes
This is another reason it’s important we all use the same MKC e-signature template rather than a personalised version. The template can be found on page 15 of our brand standards booklet. Please also make sure any references to visiting Civic in email signatures are removed.
 New rules for planning applications
From September, new laws laid by Government will introduce a fast tracked approval process for permitted development (PD) to demolish and rebuild unused buildings as homes, allowing homeowners to add up to two additional storeys to create new homes or additional living space for children and elderly relatives. Neighbours will have an opportunity to comment on the proposals in relation to impact and appearance of the development. The changes will not apply to dwellings in conservation areas
There are also changes that will allow greater flexibility for commercial and retail uses within town centres to change to alternative uses without the need to obtain planning permission, helping to revive and revitalise town centres. For commercial or mixed use buildings of three or more storeys, these can be extended by a further two storeys, up to a height of 30 metres as permitted development.
These are significant changes to the planning system and there is a considerable amount of detail sitting behind the headlines above. Therefore, officers will be providing a more detailed note for Councillors in the coming weeks ready for the changes coming into force.
The Government has also published their independently commissioned report on the quality standards of homes delivered through change of use PD which concluded that PD office to residential conversions seem to create worse quality residential environments than planning permission conversions. We are in the process of controlling these changes in the centre of MK, with the possibility of introducing an Article 4 Direction.
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