Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Z Ahmed (Deputy Cabinet Member for Strategy and Communications), Miss S Brown (Deputy Cabinet Member for Community), C Etholen (Deputy Cabinet Member for Digital Development & Customer Services), T Green (Chairman of Council), D Johncock (Cabinet Member for Planning) and G Peart (Cabinet Member for Community).

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the special Cabinet held on 30 July 2018 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no declarations of interest.

Cabinet had before it a report that outlined the recommendations from the Improvement & Review Commission which had endorsed the recommendations of the Anti-social Behaviour in the District Task and Finish Group (TFG) at its meeting on 12 September 2018.

The Chairman of the Task and Finish Group, Councillor C Whitehead, gave a detailed verbal presentation of the findings and recommendations of the TFG. It was noted that an addendum to the report was circulated at the meeting which detailed a graphic that had been previously omitted.

The Chairman of the Improvement and Review Commission and the Cabinet thanked the Task and Finish Group and officers for all their hard work.

The following decisions were made to progress the recommendations of the Improvement and Review Commission where appropriate.

RESOLVED: That the recommendations made by the Improvement and Review Commission on Anti-social behaviour be received, and a further report be presented to a future Cabinet meeting responding to each of the recommendations in detail.

The report before Cabinet detailed proposals from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to submit bids to become a pilot area for 75% Business Rates Retention. The report proposed that the new approach be piloted in the Wycombe District area from April 2019.

There was broad, informal agreement between all Buckinghamshire Authorities that a bid should be made and the gains should be shared 50% between the four Districts and 50% to the County.

The following decisions were taken to update Cabinet on the opportunity for the Council to take part in a Business Rates Pooling Pilot, and to seek approval for the Council to progress with a county-wide application.

RESOLVED: That (i) the principle of the Council being a part of a Buckinghamshire wide bid to take part in the Government’s proposed 75% Business Rates Retention Pilot commencing 1 April 2019 be supported; and

(ii) delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to approve the final application subject to final details being agreed between prospective pool members.

The item was withdrawn prior to the meeting.

Cabinet approval was sought to approve funding to employ an additional full time officer to over-see the £18.5m Town Centre Improvements Programme.

The report before Cabinet confirmed that staff resources to undertake or commission feasibility and subsequent detailed design work could be funded from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). Members noted that existing staff resources could not be put onto the programme without significantly altering current priorities.  

The following decision was made as High Wycombe was the principal town in the District, and the success of the town centre was central to the economic success of the District, and the well-being of residents. The Council required a staff resource to progress the projects.

RESOLVED: That £200k of CIL from the High Wycombe Town Centre Masterplan allocation in the major projects capital programme be released for spend on a staff resource to progress future improvements which would be partly or wholly funded by CIL.

Cabinet recalled that at its meeting on 5 June 2017, it had approved proposals to introduce a change programme called "Fit for Competition". The report before Cabinet sought delegated authority for the Head of Planning & Sustainability in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member to revise and bring into effect changes to the planning services. This would enable the Council to decrease the services level of public subsidy to the minimum achievable without compromising on quality standards.

The Deputy Cabinet Member for Planning informed the meeting that the report had incorrectly documented the results of the Equalities Impact Assessment that had been completed. It was confirmed that a very limited range of potential impacts had been identified in relation to people on lower income and people with limited computer access / skills, which could affect protected characteristics. He advised that these impacts could be mitigated through alternative measures on a case by case basis, and periodically reviewed.

The following decisions were made to enable the Head of Service for Planning on a pilot basis to modify existing planning services and introduce new ones, and to set, and modify as necessary, the associated fees and charges.

RESOLVED: That the principle of the provision of additional discretionary planning services be approved, and that delegated authority be granted to the Head of Planning and Sustainability, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Sustainability, the Head of Finance and Commercial and the District Solicitor:

(i)     to modify existing and introduce new discretionary planning services, within available legal powers; and

(ii)    to introduce pilot fees and charges to cover the Council’s costs, until the setting of final fees and charges was included into the decision making process by Cabinet as part of the annual budget cycle.

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration provided a brief update on the progress of the Connected Counties Superfast Broadband Programme as set out within the Information Sheet.

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

1/2018            Connected Counties Superfast Broadband Update

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

Community                                                               C/39/18 – C/44/18

Economic Development & Regeneration           EDR/3/18 – EDR/4/18

Finance                                                              F/07/18

Planning & Sustainability                                                PS/07/18 – PS/19/18

Cabinet received the following files on exempt actions taken under delegated

powers:

Digital Development & Customer Services Sheet No: DDCS/1/18

Economic Development & Regeneration Sheet Nos: EDR/32/18 - EDR/44/18

Housing Sheet No: H/2/18