Meeting documents
Venue: Council Chamber, King George V House, King George V Road, Amersham
Contact: Mathew Bloxham 01494 732143; email: mbloxham@chiltern.gov.uk
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To approve as a correct record and to sign the Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 15 November 2016. Minutes: The Minutes
of the meeting of Council held on 15 November 2016 were approved as a correct
record. |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: There were no
declarations of interest. |
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Announcements To receive any announcements from the Chairman, Cabinet Leader or the Head of Paid Service. Minutes: (a)      Chairman’s Engagements A
list of Engagements carried out by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the
Council between 11 November and 25 December 2016 had been circulated. (b)      Chairman’s Announcements The
Chairman announced the following forthcoming events:
(c) Announcements
from the Leader of the Cabinet The
Leader of the Cabinet had no announcements to make. (d) Announcements
from the Head of Paid Service The
Chief Executive had no announcements to make. (e) Petitions No
petitions were submitted by a councillor. |
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Presentation from Paradigm Housing To receive a presentation from Matthew Bailes (Chief Executive of Paradigm Housing) Minutes: The Council received a presentation from Matthew Bailes, Chief
Executive of Paradigm Housing Association.Â
The Chairman advised that Matthew had been Chief Executive of the
Association since 1 September 2015 and he had a wealth of experience in the
housing sector. The Chairman added that Matthew was previously Executive Director,
for Regulation at the Home and Communities Agency where he was responsible for
regulation of social housing providers in England. He had led a successful programme of
modernisation of Regulation, including updating the Regulatory Framework,
operational strategy and the structure and skills mix of the Regulator. Prior to leading the Regulator, Matthew was
the senior civil servant responsible for policy on affordable housing. Matthew opened his presentation with some key facts in respect of
housing in the Chiltern District as follows: ·
Severe
housing crisis in the region (House Prices were 14 times the average income in
Chiltern) ·
Rents
average of £1,300 per month ·
The
Association’s role was to support people affected by the crisis ·
Rent
had been cut by 1% which had reduced the Association’s income stream and
capacity to adequately support tenants and meet financial commitments (a
projected loss of £10m per annum by 2020) ·
Homelessness
and costs of temporary accommodation was increasing The broader context was outlined in respect of the uncertainty of
the market post Brexit, ongoing austerity, political pressure to build more
homes with a focus on home ownership and the need for action on the housing
supply. It was reported that a Housing
White Paper was due to be published shortly. Members were advised of the potential impact on changes to Welfare
Reform which would result in residents receiving rent benefit payments directly
rather than the current arrangements through their local council and it was
likely that this would create risks and challenges in the future. There had also been reductions in the amount
of benefit that the government will pay residents. The changes were causing Paradigm to rethink
their build programmes. It was reported that the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme had been delayed
and the scale of the funding for this was still unclear. If this was introduced then all residents
would qualify for Right to Buy and this could present challenges in terms of
funding to build replacement properties.Â
The proposed introduction of the Tenant Deal by Paradigm was also outlined which balanced the needs of
existing tenants with those of future tenants.Â
The Tenant Deal would include aspects such as rent in advance,
pre-tenancy checks, the Housing Association taking action more quickly when
tenancy breaches occurred (eg. rent arrears) and
residents bearing costs for damages to property or missed appointments. H Wallace and
C Ford entered the meeting at 6.45pm The Chief
Executive of Paradigm concluded his presentation by outlining the need to build
more new homes in the area and the opportunities for the Housing Association
and local authorities to increase joint working to achieve the development of
brown field sites for more affordable homes. D Varley
entered the meeting at 6.50pm The Chairman
invited questions from members. In response to
members’ questions, Matthew Bailes explained that work was ongoing with the
planning departments at local authorities to work in conjunction with the
emerging local plan where possible. He also
reported that alongside the developing Local Plan, Paradigm was looking at
opportunities now to re-develop existing infill sites in its ownership to
deliver more affordable housing. In
particular, it was noted that Paradigm were keen to explore the viability of
the use of disused garage sites for development subject to considering possible
legal constraints, but the possibilities were to be explored through a strategy
to identify sites and to work closely with the local authorities. There were also considerations being made to
the opportunities to build up on sites (ie. Provide
developments of more than 1 storey). P Hudson
entered the meeting at 6.55pm. It was
reported that £1.4billion had been earmarked in Autumn statement for affordable
housing and some for rented accommodation; and Paradigm were considering these
funds as an option and while most was for shared ownership it was being
considered for other options where possible.Â
It relation to
sheltered accommodation provision this was being considered on a scheme by
scheme basis as it was currently considered that over 55 accommodation was the
hardest to let and the needs of current and future tenants needs were being
considered. Many older people were no
longer interested in the “traditional†sheltered scheme model. It was noted
that one of the major challenges to deal with was to ensure that infrastructure
needs were met for all new developments and agencies needed to improve their
joint working on this. Paradigm is
considered a medium size agency home provider and therefore did not have the
strongest influence but a senior official from the government was visiting
Chiltern in the near future to discuss the needs of the area and the
opportunities for agencies and local authorities. The Chairman
thanked Matthew Bailes for his very informative presentation. |
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To receive and consider the recommendations of the Cabinet for the meeting held on 13 December 2016 and to receive questions and answers on any of those recommendations in accordance with Rule 8 of the Procedural Rules. Minutes: 162 Chiltern and
Wycombe Joint Waste Collection Committee - Revised Constitution to include
South Bucks It
was moved by Councillor M Smith, seconded by Councillor P E C Martin and RESOLVED - That the Minutes and
Resolutions of the Cabinet held on 13 December 2016 be received and the
recommendation contained in Minute 172 (iv) be adopted. |
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Cabinet Reports To receive and consider reports from the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee and receive questions and answers on any of those reports in accordance with Rule 9.1 of the Procedural Rules. Minutes: a)
Councillor Darby - Modernising
Local Government Councillor
Darby reported that on Monday 16 January, each District Council had scheduled a
Special Meeting of Council to consider the recent reports on the options to
modernise local government across the County.Â
The final report had been published on the Council’s website on Tuesday
10 January. b)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Councillor
Rose - HS2 Councillor
Rose provided on an update on the progress of HS2 and confirmed that the House
of Lords Select Committee had now reported. S Berry
entered the meeting at 7.15pm. Councillor
Rose advised that Lord Stephenson had tabled a number of amendments to the Select
Committee’s report and this would be noted at the next meeting of the HS2
Steering Group due to be held on 1 February to which South
Bucks District Council members were also invited. It was noted that HS2 Limited were currently
embarking on increased community activity and engagement in the District. In
response to a member’s question, Councillor Rose confirmed that the HS2 were
considering changing their proposals to use concrete rather than shingle for
the track bed not only in the tunnel but also outside the tunnel which could
result in increased noise levels. This
was an area being investigated at the moment. |
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Questions To receive questions and answers of the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee (if any) in accordance with Rule 9.2 of the Council Procedure Rules. Minutes: There were no questions. |
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Questions Without Notice To receive questions without notice from any Member of the
Council to the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee (if any)
in accordance with Rule 9.1 of the Council Procedure Rules. Minutes: There were no
questions. |
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To receive petitions and/or deputations from members of the public including provisions allowing members to ask questions of clarification at the discretion of the Chairman and restrictions on deputations covering the same subject or by the same speakers. Petitions to be presented to Council on 10 January 2017: · Stop plans to build homes on Green Belt at Lye Green Nr Chesham · Objections to the use of Green Belt land Minutes: Mr P Plato, of
2 Deer Park Walk, Chesham, Bucks presented the following petition to the
Chairman on behalf of local residents: “Against
Proposals to Develop 900 homes on Land NE of Chesham & Removal of Site #1
from Green Belt Designation Chiltern District and South Bucks
District Councils are jointly preparing a Local Plan until 2036. Part of the proposal is to expand the town of
Chesham by building new homes of which 900 are proposed to be built on
agricultural land currently designated as Green Belt on the NE of Chesham at a
hamlet called Lye Green. The Lye Green community fears these
plans, if adopted, will (amongst many other things) result in:
The Lye Green Residents also question
how the Council can claim ‘exceptional circumstances’ to justify removing this
site from the Green Belt. They also
question whether Chesham can cope with such an expansion, when the road &
drainage infrastructure is at capacity & the Council Highways Dept. have
reported that ‘significant increased in congestion’ in the town will occur
adding to already bad air quality particularly in Berkhampstead
Road. There are also concerns how
sustainable such proposals are in terms of being too far from local shops and
the Underground Station which itself struggles to cope with existing commuter
demands. The community feels that any expansion
of the town must follow the Government’s advice by looking to brownfield sites
first ie: unused or derelict employment land, empty
offices, & unused areas outside the Green Belt - ie
Brown not Green). We question the need and ability of
Chesham to cope with a disproportionate share of the new homes being planned to
the combined areas of South Bucks & Chiltern District and urge that the
proposal to build on the Preferred Option Site #1 on land to the NE of the town
be scrapped. Please sign this petition & visit www.brownnotgreen.weebly.com for
more information on what else you can do to help.†The petition
contained 1764 signatures. ACTION: The Chairman received the petition from Mr Plato and confirmed that
in accordance with the Council’s Petition Scheme the petitioner would receive
an acknowledgement and appropriate response from the Council within 10 working
days. N Varley entered the meeting at 7.21pm |
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Joint Arrangements and Outside Organisations To receive reports about and receive questions and answers relating to any joint arrangements or external organisations. Minutes: There were no reports. |
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Motions (if any) |