Agenda and minutes

To receive announcements (if any) from the Service Manager (Legal) (including apologies for absence)

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Byrne, Cockle, Farmer, Oliver, Redhead, Simner, Beccy Hopfensperger and Dorothy Whittaker.

(Public speaking on Item 3 was undertaken at the beginning of the informal discussions, to allow Members to consider the issues raised by members of the public. Public speaking on Items 4 and 5 will be subject to the following rules.)

(Section 9 of the Council Procedure rules)

To hear and answer any questions relating to items to be discussed in Part 1 (B) of the agenda, from members of the public in the public gallery who are residents of the Borough or District.

(Note: The maximum time to be set aside for this item is 30 minutes, but if all questions are dealt with sooner, or if there are no questions, the council will proceed to the next business.

Each such person will be allowed up to a total of five minutes for their question to be put and answered. One further question will be allowed arising directly from the reply, provided that the original time limit of five minutes is not exceeded.

Written questions may be submitted by members of the public to the Democratic Services no later than 10.00 am on Tuesday 24 March 2015. The written notification should detail the full question to be asked at the meeting of the Council.)

Claire Reid of Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds asked Councillor Griffiths, Leader of the Council why the compulsory purchase order did not include the land where an unsafe cycle/pedestrian path meets the Eastern Relief Road. There should be a clear division between the path and the road such as a barrier.

In response Councillor Griffiths agreed that this would be looked at in details and that the Head of Planning and Regulation would review the intended cycle route and then provide a written response.

Report No: COU/SE/15/014

Cabinet Member: Dave Ray       Lead Officer: Joy Bowes

(For reference purposes, Forest Heath District Council’s Report Number is COU/FH/15/16)

(Following the informal discussions held with Forest Heath Council on this agenda item, Members are reminded that no further debate shall take place on items where an agreement was reached during the informal discussions.)

In introducing this item, Joy Bowes, Service Manager (Legal), informed members that the recommendations were to approve the draft Articles and Procedure Rules as included in Appendix A subject to the amendments that were included in a revised Appendix B tabled at the meeting (and is attached to these minutes).

On the motion of Councillor Ray, seconded by Councillor Farthing and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED: That

(1) the revised sections of the Constitution set out at Appendix A, with any amendments arising from consideration of the comments in Appendix B and tabled at the meeting, as replacements for the equivalent parts of its

current constitution be approved; and

(2) the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make changes or corrections to the text, numbering or layout of the adopted revised Constitution that

are necessary for consistency, accuracy, grammatical correctness and sense, and to remove any parts of the existing constitution implicitly made redundant by the adoption of the revised version or which are otherwise obsolete, prior to publication; and

(3) the Monitoring Officer be authorised, in consultation with the Leader and Chief Executive, to make any interim changes to those sections of Part 3 containing functions of the Cabinet and committees that are necessary to give effect to decisions made at the Annual Meeting prior to the adoption of a revised Part 3 at the July meeting of Council.

Report No: COU/SE/15/015

Portfolio Holder: John Griffiths           Lead Officer: Steven Wood

The Council considered Report No: COU/SE/15/015 (previously circulated) which sought approval for the making of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and associated issues.

Councillor Griffiths, Leader of the Council, drew relevant issues to the attention of Members.  He reminded Members that Cabinet had approved in principle the making of a CPO at their meeting on 10 February 2015 as negotiations between the Council, Churchmanor Estates Company PLC and Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd had stalled.  Since then, negotiations and discussions had taken place but a satisfactory resolution had not yet been found.

Cabinet had considered that if it did not seek to use its compulsory purchase powers, this would result in the Eastern Relief Road (ERR)  not progressing and therefore at their meeting on 24 February 2015 had recommended that Council should approve the making of the CPO. Negotiations would continue between all parties with a view to finding a solution without the need for a CPO, but if necessary, a paper would be taken to Council before any CPO action was taken.

Some concern was raised by councillors who felt that negotiations should continue without using a CPO as this could be seen to be depriving rightful owners of their land. The response given was that negotiations had been continuing for some time and although it was still hoped that an agreement would be reached in due course without the need for a CPO, the Council needed to provide some certainty to the timetable to avoid losing funding from other sources.

Joy Bowes, Service Manager (Legal) referred Members to sections 4.2 and 4.6 of Report No: COU/SE/15/015, which clarified the process for a CPO.

On the motion of Councillor Griffiths, seconded by Councillor Farthing and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED: That

(1) the St Edmundsbury Borough Council (Suffolk Business Park Infrastructure) Compulsory Purchase Order 2015 (“the Order”) under section 226(1)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 and section 13 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and all other enabling

powers, for the acquisition of all legal estates and interests in the land and the acquisition of rights within the areas shown hatched on the draft Order mapproduced as Appendix 1 to Report No: COU/SE/15/015 with such amendment to the final land take and plot boundaries and to substitute the taking of new rights as an alternative to the acquisition of title as may be considered necessary and approved by the Head of Planning and Growth, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, for the purposes of securing mixed use development including the provision of the Eastern Relief Road linking Moreton Hall/Suffolk Business Park at Lady Miriam Way to Junction 45 of the A14

Trunk Road, is made; and

(2) the draft Order map that shows areas hatched where the intention is for the acquisition of all interests in the land other than those of the acquiring authority,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

Schedule attached as Report No: COU/SE/15/016

(A)    Referrals from Special Cabinet: 24 February 2015

          1.       Suffolk Business Park Land Assembly

                   Cabinet Member: John Griffiths

(B)    Referrals from Cabinet: 24 March 2015

1.       Suffolk Business Park/Eastern Relief Road, Bury St Edmunds: Update

                   Cabinet Member: John Griffiths

                   (Full Cabinet Report to follow as Appendix A.)

2.       Transfer of land to Suffolk County Council for new High School at Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds

                   Cabinet Member: Peter Stevens

                   (Full Cabinet Report to follow as Appendix B.)

          3.       Public Service Village Phase II: Update and next phase

                   Cabinet Member: John Griffiths

(Councillor Buckle left the meeting during the consideration of this item.)

(A) 1. Suffolk Business Park Land Assembly

The recommendations emanating from the Cabinet’s consideration of this report were contained within Report No: COU./SE/15/015, ‘Suffolk Business Park Land Assembly’, which had already been considered as Agenda Item 4 on this special full Council agenda.

(B) 1. – Suffolk Business Park/Easter Relief Road, Bury St Edmunds: Update

The report relating to this item (CAB/SE/15/021) had previously been circulated as a late item as Appendix A to Report: COU/SE/15/016.

Councillor Griffiths, Leader of the Council provided an update on the Eastern Relief Road project. Council had already committed £4.5m of funding for the works of providing electricity to serve the Suffolk Business Park at its meeting on 24 February 2015. At that time it was considered that NALEP would be able to provide a loan for the full amount but it was now clear that they would consider a loan of £1.4m instead. Therefore approval of the full amount of funding was now sought as a worst case scenario. The Council would continue to work with all partners to ensure a satisfactory conclusion.  

Councillor Griffiths confirmed that proper transport plans including cycle paths would be sought from Suffolk County Council (SCC).

On the motion of Councillor Griffiths, seconded by Councillor Farthing and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED:  That

(1) £4,528,871 from within the Council’s capital programme, be allocated by the Section 151 Officer, initially financed from capital receipts, with a view to the project being funded by a combination of £1.4m from Taylor Wimpey, a £1.4m loan from New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (NALEP), and a loan from Suffolk County Council. Following the conclusion of the negotiations with these parties and the outcome of the NALEP application, if there is any shortfall, this would be funded by the Council and recovered through the loan repayments by Taylor Wimpey, as set out in 2.9 and 2.10 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/021; and

(2) all of the above be subject to the satisfaction of the Section 151 and Monitoring Officers, in consultation with the Leader of the Council; and

(3) subject to Recommendations (1) and (2) above, delegated authority be granted to the Head of Planning and Growth, in consultation with the

Leader of the Council, to enter into a loan agreement with Taylor Wimpey to commission the electricity infrastructure works.

(B) 2. – Transfer of land to Suffolk County Council for new High School at Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds

The report relating to this item (CAB/SE/15/022) had previously been circulated as a late item as Appendix B to Report: COU/SE/15/016.

Councillor Stevens introduced this report which underlined the determination of the council to deliver infrastructure to the residents in Moreton Hall and St Edmundsbury in general, and to provide educational and leisure facilities.

A capital contribution would be made to SCC for sports provision within the site and the Council would retain the lease on site to ensure that these leisure facilities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.