Meeting documents

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Honorary Aldermen: P Cartwright, E H Collins, M Oram, Mrs K M Peatey and Mrs P Priestley. Councillors: C Etholen, R Gaffney, M Hanif, Maz Hussain, R Newman, J Teesdale, N Teesdale and R Wilson.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 3 April and of Annual Council held on 15 May 2017.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 3 April and of Annual Council held on 15 May 2017 be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any disclosure of disclosable pecuniary interests by Members relating to items on the agenda. If any member is uncertain as to whether an interest should be disclosed, he or she is asked if possible to contact the District Solicitor prior to the meeting.

Members are reminded that if they are declaring an interest they should state the nature of that interest whether or not they are required to withdraw from the meeting.

Declarations of interest were received in relation to minute 16, of the Cabinet minutes of 10 July 2017, from Councillor Miss K Wood, L Wood, and D Shakespeare, as they all had properties in close proximity to the development site under consideration. They all withdrew from the meeting for the duration of discussions on minute 16. 

To receive such communication as the Chairman of the Council may wish to make.

The Chairman of the Council announced that she had undertaken some 32 engagements since taking office in May. She highlighted the following events:

(a)  Armed Forces Day – this had taken place on 17 June at the Rugby club where attendees had danced to raise funds for charity.

(b)   Busy Bees Pre School Graduation Ceremony – This was held on 13 July when young children had donned little red gowns and hats.

The Chairman also emphasised that Members should endeavour if possible to attend the Battle of Britain Service on 17 September 2017.

Written questions may be asked of the Leader or any cabinet Member if submitted to the Head of Democratic, Legal and Policy Services no later than 12 noon on Monday 10 July 2017. Questions will be submitted in the order in which they were received.

A questioner will have a maximum of 1 minute to ask a question and the answer shall not exceed 3 minutes. Any questioner may put one supplementary question without notice within a maximum time of 1 minute and the answer may not exceed 2 minutes.  

(a)Question from Mr J Hill to the Leader of the Council

"Over the last few years the nature and users of High Wycombe Towns historic Charter Market and market have changed with the loss of a significant number of stalls covering a wide range of goods that you would expect to see in a thriving town market. There has been an increase in the provision of hot food outlets.

What are the views of the Leader and her Cabinet on the demise of the town’s Historic Charter Market which has been in existence for some 7 centuries?"

Response from Councillor Ms K Wood (Leader of the Council)

"High Wycombe’s market has played an important role in the town for several centuries and the Council is committed to ensuring the market continues to thrive and prosper in the future.  In recent years we have supported the Market in a number of ways including help with the installation of new stalls. 

The move of markets away from dry goods towards a greater emphasis on food & drink is a national phenomenon.  In the most recent edition of the National Market Traders Federation magazine (June 2017) the Chief Executive’s annual report laments the continuing decline in the number of market traders across the UK as a whole. 

The sale of dry goods and clothing in markets has been affected by the rise of ‘value’ retailers such as Pound World, Pound Land, B&M and Primark who, in many cases can undercut the prices that market traders can achieve by buying their goods from large wholesalers.

Many markets have enjoyed a rise in fresh and artisan food with a strong local provenance (evidenced by the growth of farmers’ markets) as well as ‘street food’ from a variety of cultural and ethnic traditions. 

The fact that High Wycombe has a market charter dating from medieval times cannot insulate it from changes in consumer tastes and perceptions about what and why they choose to buy from street markets rather than shops, supermarkets or online.

There are certainly issues including food hygiene, cooking fumes and litter problems that can arise from hot food takeaways. However, the Council has resources to manage these issues and to license the traders who operate such outlets.  

It is not realistic or sensible for the Council to intervene to protect market traders from ‘market forces’. Both the town centre and the retail market have undergone dramatic changes in recent years.  The advent of ‘discounters’ and on-line shopping and the town’s demographics all mean that street markets have to evolve.  The same old offering is not enough to attract people. One aspect of this change being that the market has been successful in capitalising upon the growth of ‘street food’, with new improved seating to come.  It retains two fruit and veg stalls and a successful newcomer is a popular cut flower and plant stall.  Plans are being worked on to better utilise the under-crofts of the Guildhall and Little Market House. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Questions to the Leader or any Cabinet Members must be submitted by 12 noon Monday 10 July 2017. Questions shall be taken first from the Group Leaders of the political parties who shall be entitled to ask an initial Leader`s question, including the right to adopt another Member`s question from his/her group, of which written notice shall have been given to the Head of Democratic, Legal and Policy Services prior to the meeting.

The order of questions shall then permit the first question from each other councillor to be asked before any subsequent questions from the same Councillor. One question will be taken in turn from the same Councillor unless there are no other questions to be asked.

Every Member asking an oral question is permitted to ask one supplementary question without notice provided that it is not substantially the same as a question that was put to a Council meeting during the past six months.

The appropriate member will respond to any questions remaining unanswered at the expiry of 30 minutes in writing. Any question remaining unanswered after 30 minutes will be answered within 10 working days in writing after the meeting by the appropriate member and appended to the minutes of the meeting.

(a)Question from Councillor R Raja to the Leader of the Council.

"In view of the horrific Grenfell fire and the series of catastrophic missteps and a woefully inadequate response from Kensington & Chelsea Council in the first 48 hours of the tragedy, it has put the Kensington & Chelsea Council under a bitter national spotlight.

It also shows that whilst you can have all the policies in place but the lack of preparedness to meet such challenges means that policies, which cannot be put in practice, are not worth the paper they are written on.

With the hope that we never have to experience anything of the magnitude of Grenfell, can the Leader of the Council reassure us that all necessary fire & safety precautions are in place in all social housing facilities within the authority’s area?"

Response from Councillor Ms K Wood (Leader of the Council)

"Obviously my thoughts and prayers go out to those who have suffered and lost their lives in this terrible tragedy. As I am sure you would agree, we should not politicise such events but work together to find solutions.

Following the transfer to Red Kite of our housing stock in 2012 we only have one property left. The Council’s remaining social housing stock at Saunderton Lodge has been subject to a fire safety audit prior to the tragic events at Grenfell.  Since then, we have carried out a further risk assessment to ensure that we are doing all we can to manage and minimise the risk to our staff and residents at the lodge, this has been with the involvement of the Fire Service too.

The social housing stock in the district is owned and managed by a number of Registered Housing Providers who are subject to their own risk assessments and compliance with fire safety for their stock. Bucks Fire and Rescue are the relevant authority for fire safety in the District. Having checked their websites the major ones certainly all have messages regarding their fire safety procedures.

There was no supplementary question.

(b)Question from Councillor M Knight to the Cabinet Member for Community.

"Along with victims of knife crime in High Wycombe I have previously called for a knife amnesty to be held.

Neither the council nor the police have deemed this to be necessary until now.

Could you tell me how serious the problem needs to get before the council joins me in calling on the police to hold an amnesty in order to reduce the number of offensive weapons on our streets?"

Response from Councillor G Peart (Cabinet Member for Community).

"I have obtained information from the Police for you, as they deal with knife crime in the District.  I can report that their figures disprove your suggestion that we are experiencing an epidemic as there is no particular increase in knife crime compared to last year.  However, I do share your concern over the recent incidents of youth violence, caused by groups of young people fighting each other.

You will be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

(i)            Council to receive any petition from a member of the public who lives, works or studies within the district or from a Councillor on his/her behalf as notified by the deadline of 5pm on Monday 10 July 2017.

(ii)          Council to consider any petition already received that meets the required number of signatures to qualify for a debate by Full council. (The petition organiser will have 5 minutes to present the petition and then the Council will debate the matter for a maximum of 15 minutes and decide how to respond to the petition)

No petitions were received before the deadline of 5pm on Monday 10 July.

To receive the minutes of and consider any recommendations from the following meeting:

Cabinet                      5 June 2017

Cabinet                      10 July 2017(To follow)    

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 5 June be received.  

Councillor Barnes rose to present the minutes of the Cabinet held on 10 July following the withdrawal of Councillor Miss K Wood from the meeting.

Minute 16 – Gomm Valley & Ashwells Development Brief

A Member enquired as to the likely next steps and how we intended to engage with the local community. She was informed that this was the beginning of the consultation process and not the end and that further work would be undertaken with stakeholders prior to the determination of planning applications.

Minute 17 – Referral from HWTC – Cemetery Security

A Member conveyed his congratulations and thanks to officers, the Cabinet, High Wycombe Town Committee and to the people of the town who had brought the petition forward which had provided a very good result. This was a great example of close working between officers and the public who had together managed to identify effective solutions.

(Councillors Ms K Wood, L Wood and D Shakespeare declared an interest and withdrew from the meeting during discussion of the Cabinet minutes of 10 July)

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 10 July 2017 be received and the recommendation as set out at minute number 19 be approved and adopted.

To receive the minutes of and consider any recommendations from the following meeting:

Standards Committee                     11 July 2017 (To follow)

In the absence of the Chairman, Cllr M Clarke rose to present the minutes of the Standards committee held on11 July 2017.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 11 July 2017 be received.

To receive the minutes of and consider any recommendations from the following meeting:

Improvement & Review Commission                   21 June 2017                                  

In the absence of the Chairman, Cllr A D Collingwood rose to present the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2017.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Improvement & review Commission held on 21 June 2017 be received.

To receive the minutes of and consider any recommendations from the following meeting:

Audit Committee                  15 June 2017                      

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 15 June 2017 be received and the recommendation as set out at minute number 9 be approved and adopted.

To receive the minutes of and consider any recommendations from the following meeting:

High Wycombe Town Committee             13 June 2017

The Chairman rose to echo the comments made by Cllr Knight in relation to security in the cemetery and wished to place on record his thanks for the hard work undertaken by the officers and in their collaboration with the public.

Minute 7 – Rye Feasibility Study

A Member enquired whether it would be possible to install some portable toilets at the Rye in the forthcoming couple of months. She was informed that this was likely to be of a higher cost than one might expect due mainly to the security issues surrounding the matter.

Another Member rose to congratulate the officers on the undertaking of the feasibility study, which would determine the requirements of the public as to what was on offer at the Rye.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the High Wycombe Town Committee held on 13 June 2017 be received.

To receive the minutes of and consider any recommendations from the following meeting:

JNC Staffing Matters Committee               23 May 2017

JNC Staffing Matters Committee               3 July 2017

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the JNC Staffing Matters Committee held on 23 May and 3 July 2017 be received.  

To receive the minutes of and consider any recommendations from the following meetings:

Planning Committee                       8 March 2017

Planning Committee                       26 April 2017

Planning Committee                       31 May 2017

Minute 99 – land adjacent 82 Daws Hill Lane

A Member questioned whether any responses had been received in relation to this matter and what stage the study had reached. She was informed that the Chairman of the Committee was unaware as to whether the study had yet been concluded and that he would follow this up.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 8 March, 26 April and 31 May be received

Councillor S Broadbent addressed the meeting, highlighting the main issues within the report submitted to Full Council for its consideration.

The report proposed a deviation from the usual approach adopted during the procurement process in the building of a nursery at Handy Cross. This would require that contract standing orders be waived and as such not necessitate the advertising of all contracts valued at over £10,000. The report also proposed to delegate the authority to award the contract to the Interim Corporate Director (Growth & Regeneration) in consultation with the Interim Head of Finance and Commercial Services together with the Cabinet members for Economic Development and Regeneration and Finance and Resources.

In considering the report before them, Members agreed with the proposals set out, and therefore it was

 RESOLVED: That

(i)            the procurement of the contractor to build the proposed nursery at Handy Cross, be approved, and the requirement within contract standing orders to advertise all contracts with a value of more than £10,000 be waived.

(ii)          Delegated authority to award the contract be granted to the officers/Members as set out in paragraph 15 of the report contained within the supplementary Council agenda. 

There were none.

(i)            Approval of the revised extents of the Alscot & Horsenden Conservation Area appraisals

(ii)          Use of S106 Funding for affordable housing

(iii)         Appointment of Policy Advisory Groups

(iv)         Approval of the Residential Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document for adoption to form part of the Wycombe Development Plan.

(v)          Approval of the adoption of the Bledlow-cum-Saunderton Neighbourhood Plan as part of the Development Plan for decision making on planning applications.

(vi)         Adoption of Play Strategy 2017-2022

The individual decisions published since the last ordinary meeting of the Council held on 3 April 2017 as set out in the summons were noted.