Agenda and minutes
PDF 176 KBVenue: The John Meikle Room - The Deane House. View directions
Contact: Email: governance@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk Scrutiny Officer - Marcus Prouse Email: m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk
Webcast: View the webcast
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Apologies
To receive any apologies for absence.
Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Cllrs Dawn Johnson, Vivienne Stock-Williams, Steve Griffiths, who was substituted by Cllr Sue Lees and John Hunt, who was substituted by Cllr Loretta Whetlor.
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Minutes of the previous meeting of the Community Scrutiny Committee
To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Community Scrutiny Committee held on 30th September 2021. Additional documents: Minutes: (Minutes of the meeting of the Community Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 30th September 2021 were circulated with the agenda).
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Community Scrutiny Committee meeting held on the 30th September 2021 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.)
Additional documents: Minutes:
Cllrs Libby Lisgo, Sue Lees, Sarah Wakefield and Loretta Whetlor declared an interest in Item 8 as members of the Working Group reviewing the VCSE grants.
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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.
Temporary measures during the Coronavirus pandemic Due to the temporary legislation (within the Coronavirus Act 2020, which allowed for use of virtual meetings) coming to an end on 6 May 2021, the council’s committee meetings will now take place in the office buildings at the John Meikle Room, Deane House, Belvedere Road, Taunton. Unfortunately due to capacity requirements the Chamber at West Somerset House is not able to be used at this current moment. Following the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), the council meeting rooms will have very limited capacity. With this in mind, we will be encouraging those members of the public who have registered to speak to attend the meetings in person at the office buildings, if they wish. (We will still be offering to those members of the public that are not comfortable in attending, for their statements to be read out by a member of the Governance team). Please can we urge all members of the public who are only interested in listening to the debate to view our live webcasts from the safety of their own home to help prevent the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Additional documents: Minutes: No members of the public had requested to make a statement or ask a question on any item on the Agenda. |
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Community Scrutiny Request/Recommendation Trackers
To update the Community Scrutiny Committee on the progress of resolutions and recommendations from previous meetings of the Committee. Additional documents: Minutes: The comments around the fountain in Wellington were noted.
RESOLVED to note the Community Scrutiny request and recommendation trackers.
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Community Scrutiny Forward Plan
To receive items and review the Forward Plan.
Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED to note and approve the Community Scrutiny Forward Plan. |
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Executive and Full Council Forward Plans
To review the Forward Plans of the Executive and Full Council.
Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED to note the Executive and Full Council Forward Plans.
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Review of Voluntary and Community Sector Grants
This matter is the responsibility of the Chair of the Working Group and Executive Councillor for Community, Cllr Chris Booth.
This report is pertaining to the results of the Member’s Working Group regarding the Annual Review for Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Grants and makes a future spending proposal. Additional documents: Minutes: Cllr Chris Booth presented the report to Scrutiny and made the following recommendation:- To recommend the schedule of grants set out within the table ‘Proposed Voluntary and Community Sector Grants 2022/23’ in section 6.2 of the report to the Executive to be held on 17th November 2021.
Scott Weetch also referred to the comments made by the S151 Officer Paul Fitzgerald in 6.5 of the report.
During the discussion the following points were made: -
· Thanks were extended to the Officers and Councillors who served on the Working Group for their time and expertise in putting the report together. · The Working Group had been impressed with the strength and depth of work being undertaken by the voluntary sector outlined in the many different zoom presentations they had received. · CLOWNS - acronym for Creating Learning Opportunities in WesterN Somerset. · The Wiveliscombe Area Partnership was a greatly valued, multi- agency hub that served the wider community in and around Wiveliscombe. It had been a great source of support during the pandemic and was responsible for amongst many other services the Wivey Link transport group. It was considered a good model for partnership working in a rural area. · An officer within the council has capacity to incorporate the CIL work which was previously outsourced to the CCS. The Working Group saw the value in returning this to an in-house service. · Particular mention was made about the good work that both Advice Bureaus carry out across the district and whether any identified underspend could be redistributed to them. · Concern was raised about longevity and ongoing sustainability of grant funding beyond the life of SWT. It was important for the VCSE to know so that they could plan projects and cashflow before committing expenditure. · Some of the contracts will be co-terminus with the life of SWT and are due to end in March of 2023. · Others will extend beyond this date and will be honoured for the duration of the contract term but will obviously be reviewed by the successive authority going forward. · Officers are already having conversations with various groups to determine how it will impact on their services and planning mitigation. This is in line with the other district councils in Somerset who are in a similar position. · It is not in the power of SWT to make commitments or provide certainty on grants and funding beyond March 2023. This would be the remit of the new Somerset Council or possibly the transitional body/shadow council in setting their budgets for the new authority. · Councillors and officers will continue to lobby hard to ensure there is as little disruption as possible to the VCSE whilst the transition to the new Unitary Council takes place.
RESOLVED to accept the report recommendations whilst incorporating the key concerns around ongoing sustainability after March 2023 and support for the VCSE.
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This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor Member Francesca Smith.
The Report has two purposes: · To reinforce the Council’s willingness to progress a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to achieve vacant possession of the North Taunton Woolaway Project (the Project) development area to achieve the successful regeneration of North Taunton. The Council throughout the CPO process enthusiastically attempt to purchase by mutual consent wherever possible. · To request permission from the Executive to purchase two privately owned dwellings in the North Taunton Woolaway Project (the Project), if purchased this will avoid CPO activity in relation to these properties.
Additional documents: Minutes:
Cllr Francesca Smith presented the report to Scrutiny via Zoom. Jane Windebank provided a detailed PowerPoint presentation on the current issues.
During the discussion the following points were made: -
· This is a precautionary measure and is aimed at private homeowners who have previously purchased a Woolaway property under the Councils Right to Buy Scheme. It is to ensure that the council has vacant possession of all properties in the North Taunton development area and prevent unnecessary delays on the demolition date. National guidelines recognise the benefit of beginning the CPO process and securing a CPO even if it’s not required later. It will also ensure that homeowners are aware of the Council’s intentions to proceed with a CPO and thus enter more readily into meaningful negotiations. · The paragraphs in italics (2.5 and 4.7) will be removed from the final report. · Issues around decant and moving need to be handled sensitively and supportively. It will be difficult, painful and emotional for some residents to give up their family home. The housing team are working hard to support residents in this situation. · The CPO only relates to private homeowners and not tenants. The new development is 100% social housing. There is no private home ownership. The options for tenants who have been decanted are that they can remain in the temporary accommodation if they wish to make it their permanent home; move to an alternative new home or can move back to the scheme on completion. · Since the Council moved to re-develop the North Taunton Area, tenants occupying the Woolaway homes in the scheme have had their Right To Buy frozen. Future purchases on the development area have been put on hold due to the demolition order on the site. · Due to the well-known inherent problems associated with Woolaway construction, it is difficult to obtain a mortgage and purchase on the open market. This also proves a problem for someone trying to sell as they may be in a negative or low equity situation. · Tenants are usually waiting for between 12-18months for a suitable property, but this depends on their choices and whether they are waiting for a specific home in a specific road. This can prolong the process. Tenants in decant are moved to gold banding and awarded extra back-dated “waiting points” which gives them high priority for re-housing but they could be competing alongside other tenants who are also in the same decant situation and have the same required housing need. COVID-19 also delayed the re-build on the Phase A development, so those tenants have had to wait longer. · Financial compensation (disturbance payment) will be offered to those homeowners who are forced to move and the Council offers an incentive scheme to encourage vacant possession over and above the market value of the CPO. This will assist those who are looking to purchase a traditional property on the open market and may be facing a funding shortfall. Equity loans are also available to owner-occupiers, and this has already been ... view the full minutes text for item 48. |