Agenda and minutes

SWT Scrutiny Committee
Wednesday, 12th June, 2019 6.15 pm

Venue: Council Chamber - West Somerset House. View directions

Items
No. Item

1.

Appointment of Vice-Chair

2.

Apologies

3.

Minutes of the previous meeting of the Scrutiny Committee pdf icon PDF 234 KB

4.

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:-

     

    Name

    Minute No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr N Cavill

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Ellis

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr J Hunt

    All Items

    SCC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Lees

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Lisgo

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Mansell

    All Items

    Wiveliscombe

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr H Prior-Sankey

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Wedderkopp

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr G Wren

    All Items

    Clerk to Milverton PC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

5.

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:

    Agenda Item 6 – Scrutiny Work Programme – Watchet Library Transfer.

     

    Councillor John Irven, Chairman of Watchet Town Council (WTC), spoke about an item on the work programme that had been scheduled for 17 July 2019 – Watchet Library transfer. 

    Briefly, in order to prevent its closure WTC requested a freehold asset transfer of Watchet Library as a condition of funding a Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) where WTC covered all building costs and liabilities. The initial request was rejected by WSC’s Asset Management Team in closed session, despite evidence that the building was gifted by L. L Stoate to the people of Watchet and only held in trust by WSC for Somerset County Council (SCC) to lease and operate the library.

    WTC’s argument, supported by legal opinion, had to be taken directly to the leaders of WSC and TDBC to obtain a review which led to a published decision to transfer the asset which stated “the freehold transfer of the building was viewed as the most appropriate way of enabling library services to continue, via a CLP between WTC and SCC.”

    Officers were delegated to finalise terms, which initially included an overage clause clawing back any increase in value.  WTC rejected this as you would be in breach of your duties as trustees by keeping an option to benefit financially from an asset you hold in trust. Officers acknowledged the trust status and agreed to remove overage.

    However, a remaining clause granting a pre-emption right to Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) to take back the freehold was considered inappropriate because SWT has not demonstrated its ability to discharge its duty to protect the asset for the trust, rather than acting in in its own interest. 

    WTC proposed instead more appropriate means of asset protection of the trust, of which my colleague Peter Murphy of Watchet Library Friends would give more detail. This remaining issue was therefore to be taken back to a Senior Leadership Team (SLT) meeting, where WTC were assured that the matter would be revisited and that the normal democratic route of Scrutiny, Executive and Council would be followed in the interests of openness and transparency. However, we have been told that the closed SLT session decided not to do this whilst reinstating the overage clause.

    We ask for your help and noted that at the WSC Cabinet meeting held on 9 January 2019, he requested ‘that the governance of your asset management process be reviewed to ensure that such problems could be avoided as WSC transitioned into the new council structure.’ Although unanswered by WSC, we were assured the new council would resolve this, but it appeared SWT had exacerbated the issue with governance which I suggested was still not fit-for-purpose.

    I would ask that the Scrutiny Committee agreed to consider the transfer to ensure the process was open and transparent and resolved to WTC satisfaction.

     

    Peter Murphy, Chair of Watchet Library Friends (WLF), spoke and gave more background information, Leonard Laity Stoate, a Watchet philanthropist  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Work Programme Scrutiny

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

    ·         The Chair suggested that the Watchet Library item was added to the Work Programme for the July meeting and that the officers progressed with the report with that deadline in mind.

    ·         Councillors requested clarification on how to add items to the Work Programme.

    The Governance and Democracy Specialist clarified the process.

    ·         Councillors made suggestions on how to work moving forward with the Scrutiny Work Programme.

    The Chair agreed with the idea for an informal Scrutiny meeting and would follow up with the clerk to arrange.

    ·         Councillors gave positive feedback on the training they had received on Scrutiny and requested that the portfolio holder information was added to the Work Programme.

     

    Resolved that the Scrutiny Work Programme was noted.

7.

District wide Local Plan: Local Development Scheme

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were made:-

    ·         Councillors queried once the document had been completed in 2021, how much weight it would hold.

    In this country there was a plan led system in law, however, we delivered in a ‘nuance’ system where decisions were made in accordance with the government plan unless material consideration indicated otherwise.

    ·         Councillors queried whether the document was able to adapt to the continually changing targets set by Central Government.

    Policy and legislation was constantly changing and officers were used to dealing with that.

    ·         Councillors requested clarification on the statement ‘the plan was to give the local community certainty’ and concern was raised over individual planning decisions and that the plan would not carry much weight.

    ·         Councillors queried what the plan’s remit was?  Concern was raised on issues with local infrastructure.

    ·         Councillors requested that officers incorporated into the plan any expected conditions for planning applications to address climate change matters.  

    The Chair advised that comments could be addressed in the consultation and as part of councillor engagement.  The Head of Strategy advised that the policy was positively worded, so it gave information on what applicants could do rather than what they could not do, however, developers worked around that.  The Planning Committee would need to be aware of that.

    ·         Councillors highlighted how infrastructure and climate change were included in the plan.  They further queried how community engagement was carried out in the rural areas as they were not mentioned.  They suggested that the wording used for climate change was not strong enough and that they needed to include that the Council was working toward carbon neutrality by 2030.

    ·         Councillors requested that points were added to the document about solar panels and electric car charging points.

    ·         Concern was raised that the Government’s figures on housing needed to be revised as the original figures were too high.

    ·         Councillors also wanted to amend the recommendation to read that any amendments were made in agreement with the portfolio holder instead of in consultation. 

    That would be addressed when the recommendations were put to the vote.

    ·         Concern was raised that there was no up to date countywide transport strategy included.

    The Chair agreed that although SWT had no direct responsibility for transport that we should be enabling that.

    ·         Concern was raised that several stakeholders had not been involved. 

    ·         Councillors requested improved religious information was included in the plan.

    ·         Councillors queried when in 2021 would the document be adopted.  They further requested that officers could improve the wording used as the whole document was in ‘corporate speak’.

    ·         Councillors requested that the percentage of affordable housing was revised to include an amount of passive housing.

    ·         The Chair advised that although it was a SWT document, that information from the Somerset County Council and Exmoor National Park should not be excluded.

     

    Councillor Mansell proposed the following amendment to the motion:

    That the following wording be added to the first bullet point ‘with the addition of working towards carbon neutrality within the key drivers’.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

District wide Local Plan: New Member Steering Group - Nominations

    Minutes:

    Resolved that with regard to the production of the Review of the District wide Local Plan, Scrutiny Committee recommended to Executive that:

    ·         A cross working party was set up to support the Review Local Plan.

    ·         8 Members were nominated to sit on the new Local Plan Member Steering Group.

    ·         The Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport and/or Chair would give a verbal update at the meeting on the nominations to the new Member Steering Group.

    ·         The Member LDF Steering Group would run until the District wide Local Plan was adopted by the Council and would meet on average on a quarterly basis. The draft terms of reference were enclosed as Appendix 1.

    ·         To remove the text ‘and have in the past been actively involved in this process’ from section 5.2 in the report.

9.

Statement of Community Involvement (SCI): Draft for Consultation

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

    ·         Councillors requested that the list of stakeholders needed to be checked as they had spotted some inaccuracies.  Also, there were no provisions mentioned on how they were going to consult in the unparished area of Taunton.

     

    Resolved that with regard to the production of the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), Scrutiny Committee recommended to Executive that:

    ·         Executive approved the contents of the draft SCI document (enclosed as Appendix 1); and

    ·         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 in agreement with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport.

10.

Local Plan Issues Document - Approval for Public Consultation

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were made:-

    ·         Councillors queried whether they could recommend changes to the document.  They suggested that due to the Council’s commitment to climate change, the wording needed to be checked and they wanted to know how Planning could be immobilised to deliver on climate change.

    The Chair suggested that they proposed an amendment to the recommendation when they were addressed at the end of the discussion.  The Head of Strategy advised that they would look to incorporate climate change more robustly in the papers and would make it clear that the Council had declared a climate emergency.

     

    Resolved that the Scrutiny Committee recommended to Executive they resolved to:

    ·         Approve the Somerset West and Taunton Local Plan Issues Document for public consultation (Appendix A);

    ·         Authorise the Head of Strategy to make any necessary editorial corrections and minor amendments to the documents, and to agree the final publication style.

    ·         To clearly reference council policy to make Somerset West and Taunton carbon neutral by 2030 in the Local Plan Issues document.

11.

Regeneration of Firepool Report

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

    ·         Councillors were excited about the project.

    ·         Concern was raised on the comment made that SWT sought a development partner or investor and was led to believe that SWT would then be working in partnership which they did not want.  Further concern was raised that the exchange would happen whilst the completion date was still being debated.  They highlighted that the advice given was clear to re-examine the option of a third party to take on some of the financial risk.

    The Head of Commercial Investment confirmed that the hotel partner would be an investor.  That was the same as other land deals, some had a prescriptive approach and wanted flexibility.  He also confirmed that there was a completion date for the exchange.

    ·         Councillors were unaware of the capacity of the performance venue and queried whether figures from Cardiff and Bristol had been used which was not appropriate as they would be on a much larger scale than the Firepool venue.

    Officers were working on the specification for what the capacity would be for the performance venue.

    ·         Councillors had been contacted by members of the public with concerns that another large supermarket was being placed on site and they wanted reassurance that it was a small ’express’ sized shop.

    The Head of Commercial Investment confirmed that the supermarket would be an ‘express’ sized property.

    ·         Concern was raised that the hotel had now been placed in a specified location when they had been advised it could be changeable.

    The hotel had been placed in block five as it sat nicely within that location.

    ·         Councillors wanted reassurance that the area would be well lit and made safe for all those that used the site.

    Officers were working on the boulevard safety aspects.

    ·         Concern was raised on flooding in the area.

    ·         Councillors had visited other buildings which could offer a good starting point for the project and suggested that a conference facility should be built with a hotel attached.

    The Head of Commercial Investment was happy to discuss any ideas with Councillors.

    ·         Councillors suggested avoiding the use of a single developer and that it was a good idea to keep SWT as the master planner.

    ·         Councillors highlighted the importance of tree planting throughout the development to help mitigate against climate change and help alleviate flood risk.

    ·         Councillors suggested that SWT should work with the Environment Agency to introduce a hydroelectric generation project along the weir.

    ·         Councillors highlighted that they did not want the Firepool Project to end up as any other typical development and wanted to ensure it was an ‘eco’ project that was community led.

    The Head of Commercial Investment advised there were grants available for both tree planting and hydroelectric projects.

    ·         Councillors suggested that officers should use other projects for guidance on power generation.

    Officers would approach the Environment Agency for guidance.

    ·         Councillors were interested in revenue generation.

    The Head of Commercial Investment advised there were solid business cases for income generation.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

Time Extension

13.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

    Minutes:

    Resolved that the press and public be excluded during consideration of agenda item 12 on the grounds that, if the press and public were present during the item, there would be likely to be a disclosure to them of exempt information of the class specified in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended as follows:

    The item contained information that could release confidential information that related to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). It was therefore agreed that after consideration of all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

14.

Confidential Report

     

     

    The following items are likely to be considered after the exclusion of the press

    and public because of the likelihood that exempt information would otherwise be disclosed relating to the Clause set out below of Schedule 12A of the Local

    Government Act 1972.

    Minutes:

    The purpose of the report was to update the Scrutiny Committee on a commercial asset management issue.

     

    Resolved that the Scrutiny Committee commented on the report and made recommendations to be presented to the Executive and Full Council for approval.