Agenda and minutes
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Apologies
To receive any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors Stone and Wedderkopp.
Councillor Tully substituted for Councillor Stone |
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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.) Additional documents: 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:-
Councillor Tully declared a personal interest as having a family member who lives in a property that’s part of the Woolaway development. |
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Public Participation - To receive only in relation to the business for which the Extraordinary Meeting has been called any questions, statements or petitions from the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 14,15 and 16
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.
Temporary measures during the Coronavirus Pandemic Due to the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), we will holding meetings in a virtual manner which will be live webcast on our website. Members of the public will still be able to register to speak and ask questions, which will then be read out by the Governance and Democracy Case Manager during Public Question Time and will either be answered by the Chair of the Committee, or the relevant Portfolio Holder, or be followed up with a written response. Additional documents: Minutes: No members of the public had requested to speak on any item on the agenda. |
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Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan
To receive items and review the Forward Plan. Additional documents: Minutes: (Copy of the Scrutiny Committee 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.
A request was made for an item of Homefinder to be added to a future committee.
Resolved that the Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan be noted. |
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Executive Forward Plan
Additional documents: 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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Full Council Forward Plan
Additional documents: Minutes: (Copy of the Full Council 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 Full Council Forward Plan be noted.
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Verbal Update on Section 106 Spend
This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor for Planning and Transportation, Cllr Mike Rigby, who will be attending to provide a verbal update. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Rigby provided a verbal update on the section 106 spend and set out the Projects and expenditure along with the system set up to track where section 106 funding is directed. This was following the result of a recent Audit where it was established that, there were not sufficient measures in place to track section 106 funding and the timescales in which funding needed to be spent.
· The Heritage Mills funding was questioned, the portfolio holder would have a conversation about the project outside of the meeting. · The committee were Disappointed to hear the situation around the delays in the Section 106 spend and looked forward to hearing further conversations about a solution. · The system of how section 106 money was tracked would be reviewed to ensure choices choice were made in how the funding is utilised. · The committee requested for Involvement and consultation with ward and parish councillors in the process in future. · It was recognised that a wider conversation about 106 funding was needed, concerns were expressed over the lack of monitoring of funds that had been unspent. · Members expressed concerns over significant housing developments not making the contributions necessary to support the infrastructure. · The Committee questioned when the last occurrence of section 106 funding timing out, the earliest was from 2018, there was no evidence that this had been checked since then, with no system or central record of this. · Concerns were expressed that there were substantial sums of money that developers were benefitting from due to a lack of monitoring. Parish Council access to section 106 funding was important to ensure there was awareness of the funding available and access to this. · Travel plans were needed to be kept up to date for developers to be held to account. · It was agreed there should be more broadly defined instances of the section 106 agreement where possible. · The section 106 officer was aware of the situation and the results of the audit carried out. · The Portfolio holder committed to continue to liaise with all councillors and developers on the nature of section 106 funding, this item would be considered again in the New Year.
The Committee noted the update. |
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Access to Information - Exclusion of the Press and Public
During discussion of the following item 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 Scrutiny Committee 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. If Councillors on the Committee wish to discuss any of the confidential appendices included in the following reports, a motion to exclude will have to be passed as follows;
Recommend that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next items of business on the grounds 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).
Additional documents: Minutes: Resolved that:- The Scrutiny Committee Recommended 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).
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North Taunton Woolaway Project
This matter is the responsibility of Executive Portfolio Holder for Housing, Councillor Francesca Smith.
The report recommends the approval of funding for all future phases of the Project.
Additional documents: Minutes: The North Taunton Woolaway Project is the flagship regeneration project of the SWT’s housing development programme which set out to tackle some of the Council’s worst performing homes in one of the most socially deprived areas in the County.
The Report recommended the approval of funding for all future phases of the Project as set out in Appendix A. The budget for Phase A and Enabling Works for Phases B-E totalling was approved in February 2019. This included the purchase of owner occupied properties and decanting tenanted properties. A confidential financial summary was included at Appendix D for the purchase of the private property, which was within Phase C of the Project.
The Project set out the demolition of homes in Phase A and would start building 47 new homes with the first of these properties completed by August 2021 with Phase A estimated to complete by September 2022.
To ensure a smooth transition between all future phases and to quicken the pace of regeneration, permission was being sought to approve the budget to fund the regeneration of the remaining Phases B–E.
The Project would deliver new Council homes and was an essential part of the Council’s commitment to offer a choice of good quality homes for residents, whatever their age and income, in communities where support is available for those in need. The proposals identified in the Report would identify the funding and assist the progression of the remaining Phases (B–E) in a timely manner and provide certainty and security to the North Taunton Woolaway Project tenants.
During the discussion the following points were raised:-
· The low carbon ambition as opposed to zero carbon were questioned. · The scheme was based on building regulations, these were the requirements in terms of specification. · Under the pre-contract agreement the contractor would consider efficiencies to deliver maximum low carbon benefits. · There were challenges around the amount of low carbon changes in the construction. · There were more opportunities in future phases for additional carbon reduction measures in the construction, this would be reported to members. · Further details on the specification would be provided before the Executive report. Information would be modelled to ensure the right balance. This would be assessed within the next 2-3 weeks. · The contingency fund was built into Appendix A, this could be balanced between fabric and technology depending on the benefits of the carbon reduction and the comparable cost. · Impact on recent developments of phosphate issues as part of the planning application were considered. This was anticipated to be a short to medium term impact. · Provision of affordable homes were encouraged. Tenants returning can retain their social rent agreement. The affordable rent arrangements were considered along with the percentage split. · Reducing the carbon impact of construction was considered. More information was requested over the energy use of the residents. · Heat pumps and insulation were encouraged on the projects. The same Zero carbon standard was the ambition with all the projects to be considered in the agenda. · Feedback from the residents ... view the full minutes text for item 92. |
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Seaward Way, Minehead - New Build HRA Low Carbon Homes
This matter is the responsibility of Executive Portfolio Holder for Housing Councillor Francesca Smith.
The report concerns a proposal to develop an exemplar scheme of 54 new homes for the Council to showcase an innovative approach to house building and its commitment to affordable housing throughout the district and addressing climate change.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Site is owned by Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT), and had a planning consent for residential development. It adjoined a SWT scheme under construction for light commercial development of two industrial units.
It was proposed to develop the site as an exemplar scheme of new homes for the Council to showcase an innovative approach to house building and its commitment to affordable housing throughout the district and addressing climate change.
The scheme would re-purpose an existing Council asset into much needed housing stock for our residents in the former West Somerset area, together with community benefit from high performing houses that are cost efficient to maintain. It would result in the improved general appearance of the area and the gateway to Minehead.
During the discussion the following points were raised:-
· The committee commended the project with new housing being needed for the community in this part of the district.
The Scrutiny Committee recommended:-
(a) Approval of the development of Affordable Homes built to very low carbon standards, subject to planning approval.
(b) To approve the supplementary budget as stated in confidential appendix A.
(c) To approve the transfer of land from the general fund to the housing revenue account for the use of social housing development and to delegate authority to the Section 151 officer to approve the final land transfer amount.
(d) Delegate authority to the Section 151 Officer to determine the final funding profile for this scheme once the finalised design has received planning approval and tenders have been received.
(e) Note the use of affordable rents for these new build HRA homes in line with the 2020 Rent Setting Policy. The affordable rents would be set to ensure scheme viability at a percentage of market rates. |
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Oxford Inn New Build HRA Zero Carbon Homes, Taunton
This matter is the responsibility of Executive Portfolio Holder for Housing, Councillor Francesca Smith.
The report recommends the development of 11 new council HRA homes on the Oxford Inn site, Taunton.
Additional documents: Minutes: The report recommends the development of new council HRA homes on the Oxford Inn site, Taunton.
The scheme would be built to the specifications being developed as part of the Zero Carbon Affordable Homes Pilot approved by members in July 2020 which was now at procurement and planning pre application stage.
This site was located in the Halcon and Lane area of Taunton is owned by Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) and fell under the HRA and was formerly operated as a public house.
The scheme would demolish the existing buildings and new homes would be built broadly on the existing footprint. The development would result in the improvement of the appearance of this prominent corner site and deliver very energy efficient housing with low energy bills for the residents in line with the benefits envisaged of the Council’s Zero Carbon Affordable Homes Pilot.
During the discussion the following points were raised:-
· The committee welcomed the development into the area which was considered long overdue for regeneration, the site had remained empty for some time and had fallen into a state of disrepair. · The ambitions of the Zero Carbon affordable homes pilot was welcomed, along with providing energy efficient housing for the residents.
The Scrutiny Committee recommended:-
(a) Support of the use of the vacant SWT public house for new zero carbon affordable homes.
(b) Approve the demolition of the Oxford Inn
(c) Approve the development of affordable homes built to standards emerging from the Zero Carbon Affordable Homes Pilot, subject to planning approval.
(d) Allocate a total budget and borrowing requirement in line with confidential Appendix A.
(e) Delegate authority to the Section 151 officer to determine the final funding profile for this scheme once the finalised design has received planning approval and tenders have been received.
(f) Note the use of affordable rents for these new build HRA homes in line with the 2020 Rent Setting Policy. The affordable rents will be set to ensure scheme viability at a percentage of market rates |