Meeting documents

Venue: Council Chamber

Contact: Catherine Mackenzie 

Items
No. Item

Minute's Silence

In memory of the victims of the recent terror attacks the meeting commenced with a minute’s silence.

 

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors A Collingwood (Vice-Chairman of the Improvement & Review Commission), R Gaffney (Chairman of the Improvement & Review Commission), M Harris (Deputy Cabinet Member for Economic Development & Regeneration), D Knights (Deputy Cabinet Member  for HR, ICT and Customer Services), M Knight (Leader of the East Wycombe Independent Party), G Peart (Cabinet Member for Community), R Raja (Leader of the Labour Group) and A Turner (Deputy Cabinet Member for Planning).

2.

Minutes

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the last sentence before the resolution of minute 80 be amended to read: It was noted that High Wycombe Town Committee had amended the recommendations to allocate further resources to the new cemetery and sought Cabinet’s approval, It was therefore:

 

That subject to the amendment above, the notes of the last meeting be agreed as a true record.

 

 

 

 

3.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

4.

Consideration of the Petition - Risborough Area Residents Association: Better Town Plan for Princes Risborough & Surrounding Areas

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet were asked to consider a petition which had been presented to Council in April 2017. The petition, which was entitled "Risborough Residents Association: Better Town Plan for Princes Risborough and Surrounding Areas", raised a number of concerns regarding the scale of development, the impact on infrastructure, proposed increase in housing numbers and the sustainability of such growth within the area. The petition which contained 3,758 signatories had been validated against the Council’s Petition Scheme and referred to Cabinet for consideration.

 

In accordance with Standing Orders, the petition organiser, had been invited to Cabinet to present and speak to the petition, she emphasised the detrimental impact that potential development could have on Princes Risborough and the surrounding area. She urged Members to consider other options for the proposed development.

 

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Sustainability commented that a considerable amount of work and consultation had been undertaken in relation to producing the Local Plan. He confirmed that representatives from Risborough Area Residents Association had been involved in the Steering Group which had been created to oversee the project.

 

Members considered the petition and agreed that the impact on Princes Risborough and surrounding areas of potential development had been taken into account in producing the detailed assessments of options for the area.

 

The following decision was made as Cabinet were required to consider the petition under the Council’s Petition Scheme.

 

RESOLVED: That the residents of Princes Risborough be thanked for the petition and its contents noted.

 

 

 

5.

2016/17 Service Performance: Annual

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet had before it the end of year position for the Council’s performance at service level, as well as progress made on the key projects delivering the Council’s priorities. Cabinet would continue to receive quarterly performance monitoring reports during the year, with any areas of under-performance highlighted to ensure Cabinet could address any issues promptly.

 

It was noted that this quarter the Council had recorded the lowest number of people in temporary accommodation for the year. Cabinet thanked the Housing staff for all their hard work.

 

The following decisions were made to review the performance position as at 31 March 2017 to ensure that the Council was performing at the appropriate level.

 

RESOLVED: That the summary of the year to date outturns (January to March) for service performance be received.

 

6.

Provisional 2016/17 Outturn Report

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered a report on the provisional outturn at the end of March 2017 which included the General Fund, Repairs and Renewal Fund, Major Projects Programme and the Section 106 Developer Contributions, together with the potential use of the surplus.

 

The report before Cabinet set out an analysis of the key issues from the 2016/17 financial outturn, with detailed breakdowns of spend and movements which were set out in Appendices A to C of the report. 

The following decisions were made as the Cabinet approved a budget each year within the context of a Medium Term Financial Strategy to achieve the Council’s priorities. Regular monitoring reports were submitted to Cabinet for review during the financial year, with management actions highlighted to ensure that Cabinet could assess whether any further action was required.

 

RESOLVED: That (i) theprovisionaloutturnattheendofMarch2017inrespectoftheGeneralFundRevenueAccount,RepairsandRenewalsFund,MajorProjectsProgrammeanduseofthesurplusasdetailedinthereportbenoted;

(ii)    the proposed allocation of the surplus funds to be finalised; and

 

(iii)  the carry forward of £19.05m on the Major Projects Programme as detailed in Appendix C of the report be approved.

 

7.

Planning Resources

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the report which requested that funding be allocated towards the cost of additional resources for the Planning and Sustainability Service to address significant increases in workloads.

 

Members read the comprehensive report in respect of the current pressures on the Planning and Sustainability Service. It was noted that Planning and Sustainability faced rising workloads, both in terms of normal business and larger projects (such as the Reserve Sites and numerous appeals).

 

Cabinet approval was sought to allocate funds to finance the submission of the new Local Plan, as well as implementing a programme of change and process improvements, to ensure the Planning service remained as efficient as possible.

 

The following decisions were made as the Planning and Sustainability Service played a key role in facilitating the sustainable growth of the District’s economy and providing a land use framework for new housing and employment sites while protecting the Green Belt and ensuring sensitive development in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Service had been under considerable strain. The new funding sought aimed both to achieve a measure of respite from recent pressures and the necessary capacity to modernise the service and its management and administrative processes to deliver cost efficiency improvements and a better service for customers; deliver the local plan; and prepare the major strategic housing site at Princes Risborough.    

RESOLVED: That (i) the Council’s Planning and Sustainability Service had been experiencing rising pressures due to an increased volume of applications; the need for detailed preparatory work on the local plan; and the need to defend a number of planning appeals. The service had coped largely through the professionalism and good will of its staff. However, it was now under significant strain and required a short term injection of funding to cope with these pressures; take the local plan through the examination process next year; and modernise the service to make it more cost efficient and customer focussed;         

(ii)       The Government had allocated a total of £366k to the Council to build the necessary capacity to deliver the local plan in relation to Princes Risborough and to promote more self-build housing, and a further grant (the amount to be specified) would be provided in relation to the brownfield register. The Service had also already been allocated match funding of £66k in relation to the government grant for capacity work at Princes Risborough and had also accumulated reserves totalling £95k from 2016/17, and income from providing an enhanced service on the major projects programme of £50k a year;

(iii)      In addition to these funds Council was asked to approve the one-off allocation of £155k to finance the submission of the new Local Plan in this financial year;

(iv)      The funding requested would enable the Service to:

a)        Recruit additional short term staff to ensure that the Department continues to provide a satisfactory service over the next 2 years;

b)        Finance a business transformation and cultural change programme with the aim of modernising the service and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Information Sheets

Minutes:

Cabinet received the following Information Sheet issued since the last meeting:

 

               2/2017: Small Community and Arts Grants – Maximum award £1,500 Venues Grants – Grants Awarded of up to 50% of the net hire fee of a venue.

 

9.

File on Action Taken Under Delegated Authority

Minutes:

Cabinet received the following files on actions taken under delegated powers:

 

Community    C/06/17 – C/18/17

Economic Development & Regeneration  EDR/01/17

Finance    F/08/17 – F/18/17

Housing    H/02/17

Planning & Sustainability   PS/26/17 - PS/52/17

 

Exclusion of Press and Public

RESOLVED: That pursuant to Regulation 4(2)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Minute Nos 10 and 11, because of their reference to matters which contain exempt information as defined as follows:

Minute 10 – Bellfield (Hughenden Quarter Upper Site)

Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) (Paragraph 3, Part 1 of Schedule 12A, Local Government Act 1972)

(The need to maintain the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure, because disclosure could prejudice the Council’s position in any future tender process or negotiations)

Minute 11 - File on Action taken under Exempt Delegated  Powers

Community sheet nos: C/02/17 – C/03/17

Economic Development & Regeneration sheet nos: EDR/07/17 – EDR/24/17

Finance sheet nos: F/01/17 – F/03/17

Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) (Paragraph 3, Part 1 of Schedule 12A, Local Government Act 1972)

(The need to maintain the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure, because disclosure could prejudice the Council’s position in any future tender process or negotiations)

 

10.

Bellfield (Hughenden Quarter Upper Side)

Minutes:

Cabinet approval was sought to allocate funding from the Transformation Fund to enable the redevelopment of Hughenden Quarter upper site (formally known as Bellfield car park). Approval was also sought to dispose of part of the site to an affordable housing provider to assist in the prevention and relief of homelessness.

 

The following decisions were made as the opportunity had arisen to regenerate the Hughenden Quarter upper site area, largely owned by the Council.

 

RESOLVED: That (i) the amount set out in the report be allocated from the Council’s Transformation Fund to fund the Business Case and if appropriate submission of a planning application and detailed design of Hqube; and

 

(i)        Subject to the Business Case in (i), and obtaining planning permission as outlined in paragraph 6 of the report, to dispose of part of the Bellfield (Hughenden Quarter Upper Site) to a Registered Provider for affordable housing development and to ring-fence the proceeds to fund the development of small workshops on the other part of the site (‘HQube’).

 

11.

File on Action Taken Under Exempt Delegated Powers

Minutes:

Cabinet received the following files on exempt actions taken under delegated

powers:

 

Community: C/02/17 – C/03/17

Economic Development & Regeneration: EDR/07/17 – EDR/24/17

Finance: F/01/17 – F/03/17