Agenda, decisions and minutes
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Contact: Marcus Prouse Email: m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk
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Apologies
To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: No apologies were received from Councillors and all Executive Councillors were present. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive
To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee. Decision: (Minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 18th June 2019 were circulated with the agenda)
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Executive held on 18th June 2019 were confirmed as a correct record.
Minutes: (Minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 18th June 2019 were circulated with the agenda)
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Executive held on 18th June 2019 were confirmed as a correct record.
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Declarations of Interest
To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.
(The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)
Minutes: Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-
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Public Participation
The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.
For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.
Minutes: No members of the public had requested to speak on any item on the agenda.
Councillor Libby Lisgo asked a question as to which Executive Member had overall Portfolio Holder responsibility for the Charter Trustees issues related to Taunton?
The Leader thanked Councillor Lisgo for her question and stated that she would respond as soon as possible but needed to confirm with Officers to clarify before doing so. Subsequent to the meeting the Leader had confirmed that as both Governance and Finance matters rested with the Corporate Resources Portfolio Councillor Ross Henley was the appropiate point of contact regarding the Charter Trustees and/or wider community governance matters. |
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District wide Local Plan: Local Development Scheme
The Council is required to prepare a Local Development Scheme (LDS) which sets out the programme for the preparation of the District wide Local Plan and other development plan documents. The current adopted Local Plans by Taunton Deane Borough Council and West Somerset Council are in need of updating.
Additional documents: Decision: RECOMMENDED to Council that with regard to the production of the District wide Local Plan, they; (i) Approve the Local Development Scheme and; (ii) In consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport delegated authority is given to the Head of Strategy to agree any necessary final amendments prior to its publication. Minutes: Councillor Mike Rigby introduced this item which concerned the Local Development Scheme (LDS) which was required to be prepared to set out the programme for the preparation of the District wide Local Plan and other development plan documents. The three reports related to the Local Plan were on the Agenda of the previous Executive but the Scrutiny comments had not been circulated in a timely manner and this had now been addressed. Executive were informed that the Issues Document would now be brought back separately later on in the year to allow for the consultation period to be longer than the six week minimum and not to take place during school holidays. The comments received on that through the Scrutiny process would still be taken into account and responded to, particularly the strong focus on Climate Change which had been noted. The Governance team provided an overview of the Scrutiny feedback.
During the discussion of this item, Members made comments and asked questions which included:-
· Councillor Mansell highlighted that whilst a motion was lost on carbon neutrality at Scrutiny, this Council and its predecessor had supported this issue before and this needed to be strengthened in the report. He had supplied wording to officers on Low Carbon Energy Use Storage and Generation to include in the Evidence section and there was a need to have that clear link between evidence and policy. He also felt there needed to be a reference to Climate in the Housing section. · The Portfolio Holder felt that this report was deliberately high level to allow this large piece of work to commence and was not intended to be exhaustive. The Council’s decision on Carbon Neutrality would play an intrinsic part of the plans as they were produced. In the evidence base the issue of green infrastructure was felt to cover the topic of Low Carbon Energy. · Officers confirmed that Section 26 highlighted topics and subject areas which evidence would be required to underpin the Development Plan. Detailed technical work would need to be done to support this on the Climate Emergency and was not felt to be an issue to refer to climate change strategies and studies as part of that. · The Leader commented that Report templates needed to be updated following the motion passed at June Full Council in relation to considerations this Council would have to take into account when setting policy.
RECOMMENDED to Council that with regard to the production of the District wide Local Plan, they; (i) Approve the Local Development Scheme and; (ii) In consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport delegated authority is given to the Head of Strategy to agree any necessary final amendments prior to its publication. |
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District wide Local Plan: New Member Steering Group
Having commenced the review of the district wide Local Plan, this report seeks to establish a Member Steering Group to support the review process.
Decision:
RESOLVED that with regard to the production of the Review of the District wide Local Plan; (i) A cross party working group is set up to support the Review Local Plan. (ii) Nine Members are nominated to sit on the new Local Plan Member Steering Group. (iii) The Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport gave a verbal update at the meeting on the nominations to the new Member Steering Group and the proposed proportional split was 5 Liberal Democrats, 2 Independents, 1 Conservative and 1 Labour. (iv) The Member LDF Steering Group will run until the District wide Local Plan is adopted by the Council and will meet on average on a quarterly basis. The draft terms of reference are enclosed at Appendix 1. Minutes: Councillor Mike Rigby introduced this item which concerned the establishment of a Member Steering Group to support the Local Plan Review process. Officers had taken on the feedback they had received regarding the cross party Member Steering Group.The Group size would be increased to nine members and would be split as follows;
· 5 LD · 2 IND · 1 CON · 1 LAB
This better reflected the proportionality of the Council but also was fairer than being strictly proportional which would have disenfranchised Labour.
RESOLVED that with regard to the production of the Review of the District wide Local Plan; (i) A cross party working group is set up to support the Review Local Plan. (ii) Nine Members are nominated to sit on the new Local Plan Member Steering Group. (iii) The Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport gave a verbal update at the meeting on the nominations to the new Member Steering Group and the proposed proportional split was 5 Liberal Democrats, 2 Independents, 1 Conservative and 1 Labour. (iv) The Member LDF Steering Group will run until the District wide Local Plan is adopted by the Council and will meet on average on a quarterly basis. The draft terms of reference are enclosed at Appendix 1. |
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Statement of Community Involvement (SCI): Draft for Consultation
The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) sets out how Somerset West and Taunton will involve our community and stakeholders in the preparation, alteration and review of local planning policy and the consideration of planning applications within the Local Planning Authority area. This is our first SCI for the new Council and has been prepared to take account of changes to planning policy nationally, as well as learning from elements of the former SCI’s for Taunton Deane BC and West Somerset Council respectively.
Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that with regard to the production of the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), Executive; (i) Approved the contents of the draft SCI document (enclosed as Appendix 1), and; (ii) In consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport delegated authority was given to the Head of Strategy and the Principal Planner Specialist to agree any necessary final amendments prior to its publication for consultation. Minutes: Councillor Mike Rigby introduced this item which concerned The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) and set out how Somerset West and Taunton would involve our community and stakeholders in the preparation, alteration, and review of local planning policy and the consideration of planning applications within the Local Planning Authority area.
RESOLVED that with regard to the production of the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), Executive; (i) Approved the contents of the draft SCI document (enclosed as Appendix 1), and; (ii) In consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport delegated authority was given to the Head of Strategy and the Principal Planner Specialist to agree any necessary final amendments prior to its publication for consultation. |
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Executive Action Plan
To update the Executive on the progress of resolutions and recommendations from previous meetings of the Committee.
Minutes: There were no Executive Action Points outstanding from the previous meeting.
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Executive Forward Plan
To receive items and review the Forward Plan. Decision: (Copy of the Executive Forward Plan was circulated with the agenda).
Councillors were reminded that if they had an item they wanted to add to the agenda, that they should send their requests to the Governance Team.
RESOLVED that the Executive Forward Plan was noted. Minutes: (Copy of the Executive Forward Plan, circulated with the agenda).
Councillors were reminded that if they had an item they wanted to add to the agenda, that they should send their requests to the Governance Team.
RESOLVED that the Executive Forward Plan be noted. |
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Access to Information - Exclusion of the Press and Public
During discussion of the following item(s) it may be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 13 13.02(e) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution. This decision may be required because consideration of this matter in public may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The Executive will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
Recommend that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) Decision: RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the item numbered 12 on the Agenda as the item contained exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, and the public interest in withholding the information outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.
Minutes: RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the item numbered 12 on the Agenda as the item contained exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, and the public interest in withholding the information outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.
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Laxton Road Housing Development
Additional documents: Decision: RECOMMENDED that Full Council; (i) Approve a supplementary budget set out within the Confidential Appendix within the Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme to deliver the scheme, funded by Right to Buy receipts. (ii) Approve that the properties delivered with this scheme are provided at a social rent rather than an affordable rent. Minutes: Councillor Fran Smith introduced this item which concerned the proposed redevelopment of a Somerset West & Taunton garage site containing 16 garages at Laxton Road Taunton, TA1 2XA. The scheme was presented to Council in July 2016 as part of the HRA Business Plan Review. The report had recommended increasing the Social Housing Development Fund (SHDF) budget in order to include further funding for this scheme. The scheme had now come forward for delivery but it had been proposed to part fund the scheme with Right to Buy receipts, therefore a further technical approval was required from Council as set out in the full detail of this report.
Councillor Fran Smith proposed a further amendment to the recommendations as written in the report around providing the properties at a social rent which was seconded by Councillor Rigby. Officers had worked up a table showing the difference in financials that this change offered;
Officers confirmed that there was a confidential appendix with this report as it was still a live procurement exercise.
RECOMMENDED that Full Council; (i) Approve a supplementary budget set out within the Confidential Appendix within the Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme to deliver the scheme, funded by Right to Buy receipts. (ii) Approve that the properties delivered with this scheme are provided at a social rent rather than an affordable rent. |
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Coal Orchard Development
Decision: RECOMMENDED to Council to approve the recommendations contained as written within the report. Minutes: Councillor Marcus Kravis introduced this item which concerned the redevelopment of the Coal Orchard area. The proposal to regenerate Coal Orchard was outlined in the Council’s Town Centre Action Plan adopted in 2008, it was further reinforced by Taunton Rethink adopted in 2014, and the high level development strategy was approved by Council on 8 October 2015. All Members had had the opportunity to attend a briefing on this matter on the 2nd July 2019.
RECOMMENDED to Council to approve the recommendations contained as written within the report. |
