Meeting documents

To sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2017.

The Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held 7 February 2017 were approved and signed by Councillor I Darby, Cabinet Leader, as a correct record.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Cabinet received a report attaching the draft 28-Day Notices for the Cabinet meeting on 27 June 2017 and the Chiltern & South Bucks Joint Committee on 11 April 2017.

Regarding the 28 Day Notice for the Joint Committee it was noted that the item on cost splits would be considered at the next meeting on 7 June 2017, rather than 11 April 2017.

RESOLVED -

That the draft 28-Day Notices be noted.

(i)          Councillor Harris - Community Cards Scheme 2017

This year’s Community Cards Scheme would start on 18 April and finish on 19 June. The scheme encourages children in year 6 to get involved with constructive community activities in order to earn rewards in the form of stickers to be placed in a collector's card. It centred upon getting the best out of young people and encouraging them to be aware of their responsibilities and the opportunities in their local community.

(ii)       Councillor Martin - Government White Paper: “Fixing our Broken Housing Market”

Following the publication of the Government’s White paper there remained a degree of uncertainty regarding how this would affect local authorities in terms of how the document would be incorporated into the National Planning Policy Framework. This was unfortunate in light of the Council’s timetable of adopting a Local Plan. All Members were welcome to attend the meeting of the Joint Planning Policy Member Reference Group on 5 April 2017 where this would be discussed.

(iii)           Councillor Darby - Modernising Local Government in Buckinghamshire

Members were advised that as yet no “minded to” decision had been announced by the Secretary of State. It was anticipated that this would now happen after the Buckinghamshire County Council Elections in May although no date had been announced. The District Leaders had recently met with the Members of Parliament in the County to discuss the Districts’ proposal.

The Cabinet was asked to consider, and recommend to Council for approval, as part of the Budget and Policy Framework, the refreshed Joint Business Plan 2017-2020, which links to the Sustainable Community Strategy, and replaces the former Chiltern’s Aims and Objectives document and South Buck’s Corporate Plan.

The key changes to the document were noted along with the feedback from the Services and Resources Overview Committees. It was advised that in light of feedback received the range of different audiences would be taken into account when the Plan was reviewed in future, and the document would be made as concise as possible.

The Cabinet considered a report providing an update on the outcomes of the Performance Indicator (PI) review for 2017/18, and sought approval for the proposed changes to reporting. The key aim of the review was to ensure that the PIs were still relevant.

The Services and Resources Overview Committees had considered the report and had requested that the comments and explanations contained in the appendices should be clearer and more detailed to facilitate readability for external audiences.

The target percentage of household waste was also changed from 59% to 53% target to reflect that recycling rates have dropped nationally.

The Cabinet received a report outlining the performance of Council services against performance indicators and service objectives during Quarter 3 Oct-December 2016-17.

The Cabinet, after noting the key points in Quarter 3, then

The Council had undertaken a review of its car parks and in light of this the Cabinet had agreed, at the meeting held on 13 December 2016, to amend the Chiltern District Council’s Off Street Parking Places Order. During the consultation period the Council received two objections. In response to this, a further review of the season ticket prices and daily tariff on Amersham Multi-storey car park (AMSCP) was undertaken and the Cabinet was now asked to agree the new season ticket pricing regime, as set out in the report.

During the discussion it was felt both objections had been carefully considered and that the revised proposals were now more equitable.

In response to a question regarding the proposed increase to car parking charges operated by Chiltern Railways it was advised that the Council had been in contact with the company and that they had been informed that they had appointed someone within the company who would be responsible for overseeing the tender process for operating their car parks. Chiltern Railways had also agreed to meet with the Council once the new contractor was in place.

Members felt that it was important for the Council to continue to monitor parking availability, and to be aware of how other local car park providers operated since this had an effect on the Council’s car parks. Ensuring that there was sufficient parking space for businesses was also considered important.

Members received a report providing the results of consultation that had been carried out with local community groups on the proposed community lottery. The proposed lottery would help complement the Council’s existing provision of advice and assistance to local community groups, such as funding fairs and support from the officer team and Community Impact Bucks. It would also support groups fundraising activities as 60p in each £1 received would go to good causes. It was noted that Wycombe District Council had also agreed to provide a lottery.

Some concerns had been raised regarding the risk to the Council from the perceived promotion of gambling. It was noted that the scheme aimed to help manage that risk by offering direct debit payments to manage spending, pre-arranged sign up and no instant win gratification. The lottery website would also have links to gambling support organisations.

During the discussion Members noted that questions had been asked regarding the financial resilience of Gatherwell, the proposed lottery provider. It was noted however that they were a growing local lottery operator, and although they had only operated for a relatively short period of time, the company’s principals had in depth experience of gaming. It was also felt that without the provision of a lottery the Council would find it difficult to increase financial support to local community groups.

In response to questions it was confirmed that an annual report on the operation of the lottery would be provided to help inform decisions on the continued provision of the scheme in future years. There had been other concerns that those local community groups most likely to benefit from the lottery were the same as those who were already eligible to receive grant funding. It was noted however that the Council already took this into account since grant applications were assessed in light of other funding that groups had received as match funding was an eligibility requirement.

The Council also currently provided £30,000 of grant funding to eligible local community groups, and there were currently no plans to remove that scheme or level of funding.

Members were keen to ensure that any publicity about the lottery was appropriate, particularly in light of the key aim of scheme which was to support good causes.

The proposed Community & Wellbeing Plan provides a clear vision as to how the Council, in partnership with other agencies and voluntary groups, will improve local services and facilities over the next three years. The Cabinet were asked to recommend that the Plan be approved as part of the Budget and Policy Framework as a replacement to the Community Cohesion Plan.

During the discussion Members recognised that there were strong communities in the district. This was highlighted by the way communities helped each other in terms of need, and the identification of Chiltern as the 7^th best place to live in a recent Halifax survey. The Youth Awards had also shown the strong community spirit among young people. The proposed Plan would help support this and provide resilience.

The Cabinet received a report analysing planning appeal decisions received between 1 January and 31 December 2016 and the performance issues arising from these. The Cabinet were asked to agree a number of measures to address these in light of new performance targets being introduced by the Government.  

The proposed Interim Design Guidance Document would provide residents, developers and staff with useful guidance. The estimated £25,000, required to engage external resource, to prepare the document would be met from the planning reserve. There was close working between the Development Control and Planning Policy teams to ensure development management policies are in place within the Joint Local Plan. It was also important that the document was supplemented with good training for staff.

Members noted the proposed additional recommendation 3 that the Interim Design Guidance Document be considered by Services Overview and Planning Committees so that Members’ comments can be referred back to Cabinet.

In response to questions it was noted that the Council was working with other local authorities that had produced similar documents in order to find best practice. It was considered important to have a Guidance document soon to form the basis of a more formal document later on. The aim of this was to reduce the risk of appeals.

Members considered it important to ensure that the correct planning decisions were made in order to reduce the number of planning applications lost at appeal. The estimated resource required was considered necessary. Training was welcomed and it was suggested that this be done jointly with South Bucks District Council.

At the invitation of the Leader, Councillor P Jones spoke in support of the creation of the proposed design guide, and referred to other useful design guides that had been made in the past. Planning Committee Members had also requested a similar document. In response to concerns about the document being temporary it was noted that a Supplementary Planning Document normally followed the adoption of a Local Plan, however, it was felt that the Design Guide would provide a good foundation for this, was unlikely to be significantly different, and was required urgently.

Regarding timescales it was anticipated that following liaison with other Councils and the provision of training that the scoping of the document would be finished in August/September 2017.

At the invitation of the Leader, Councillor Phillips spoke in support for the proposed measures. The benefit of having a broad statement on what the Council expected in relation to development in the district was highlighted. This would help to bring together all planning polices and help spell out clearly what these meant in the context of an individual settlement site and provide more clarity, for example by what was meant by the term “overdevelopment” particularly in relation to equestrian sites. The Council, by not having this document in place, had a weakness that had been highlighted by Planning Inspectors. The joint working with other Councils was welcomed.

Following the discussion, the Cabinet then