Issue - meetings

Report No: COU/SE/16/007

(Councillors Tony Brown, John Burns, Terry Clements, Beccy Hopfensperger, David Nettleton and Sarah Stamp declared local non-pecuniary interests as Members of Suffolk County Council and remained in the meeting for the consideration of this item.)

Council considered Report No: COU/SE/16/007, which sought approval for several recommendations referred from Cabinet to enable the progression of the West Suffolk Operational Hub project.

The Service Manager (Legal and Democratic Services) firstly provided guidance to Members before their consideration of the item in connection with avoiding the perception of pre-determination and/or bias towards the proposal.  Members were reminded that the planning aspects of this item were not under consideration by Council, and guidance was particularly directed at Members that also sat on the Development Control Committee (DCC) and, specifically Cabinet Members that were also Members of DCC, regarding potential issues they should consider given their positions.

On 14 June 2016, the Cabinet had considered Report No: CAB/SE/16/024 during joint informal discussions with Forest Heath District Council’s Cabinet.  For ease of reference, this report was attached as Appendix 1 to Report No: COU/SE/16/007; however due to the number of pages contained in Appendices A, B and C to that report, these were not attached but were available to view online. The appendices were:

Appendix A: Consultation Report

Appendix B: Identification and Assessment of Potential Options and Sites (updated since the first round of consultation)

Appendix C: Sustainability Appraisal (updated since the first round of consultation)

Upon consideration of the report and its recommendations at that meeting, and given the significance and public interest in the item, the Cabinets had resolved to waive their executive decision making powers and made all five recommendations contained in the report subject to full Council approval.

Both St Edmundsbury Borough and Forest Heath District Councils’ Cabinets unanimously agreed to support the recommendations contained in Cabinet Report No: CAB/SE/16/024 (and for reference purposes those in Forest Heath Cabinet Report No: CAB/FH/16/023), and these were now recommended to both Councils for approval.

Councillor Peter Stevens, Portfolio Holder for Operations, drew relevant issues to the attention of Council, including that following concerns raised during the first consultation on this project, a commitment had been made to re-consult.  A new consultation was subsequently carried out between 8 January and 19 February 2016, which included placing documentation that had supported the development of a WSOH in the public domain for scrutiny and comment, and also that suggestions for alternative sites to locate a potential WSOH had been sought.

Councillor Stevens acknowledged the extensive work undertaken by respondents to produce the quality of comments received during the second round of consultation, and he thanked those that had responded accordingly. 

He then summarised the detail of the report and its appendices, which had concluded that:

(1)     With significant housing growth in west Suffolk over the next 20 years or so with an estimated increase of more than 22% (from around 75,000 to 92,000 households), this would place increased demand on waste and street services. The current  ...  view the full minutes text for item 167