Agenda, decisions and minutes
Venue: Mildenhall Hub, Sheldrick Way, Mildenhall, IP28 7JX (see link to directions below)
Contact: Sharon Turner: Democratic Services Officer
Email: sharon.turner@westsuffolk.gov.uk
Note: This meeting will also be accessible by the press and public via a live stream, the link to which is set out below. Click on the link below to view the meeting via the YouTube streaming service.
Media
Items
No. |
Item |
333. |
Welcome and introduction
Minutes:
The Chair opened the meeting and welcomed all
persons present to the first West Suffolk Council Cabinet meeting
at the Mildenhall Hub.
The Chair also explained that this meeting was being webcast live and would be available to
view subsequently on the Council’s website. The Chair also explained the rationale behind the
continuing precautionary health and safety measures that remained
in operation for this meeting, which aimed to reduce and restrict
the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
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334. |
Apologies for absence
Minutes:
Apologies for absence were received from
Councillors Andy Drummond and Jo Rayner
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335. |
Minutes PDF 289 KB
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on
8 February 2022 (copy attached).
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held on 8 February
2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the
Chair.
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336. |
Declarations of interest
Members are reminded of their responsibility
to declare any pecuniary or local non pecuniary interest which they
have in any item of business on the agenda, no later than when
that item is reached and, when appropriate, to leave the
meeting prior to discussion and voting on the item.
Minutes:
Members’ declarations of interest are
recorded under the item to which the declaration relates.
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337. |
Open forum
At each Cabinet meeting, up to 15 minutes
shall be allocated for questions or statements from and discussion
with, non-Cabinet members. Members wishing to speak during this
session are encouraged to give notice in advance. Who speaks and
for how long will be at the complete discretion of the person
presiding.
Minutes:
The following non-Cabinet members spoke under
this item:
1.
Councillor Andy Neal (Customer access at the Mildenhall
Hub)
Councillor Andy Neal
(Ward Member for Mildenhall Queensway)addressed the Cabinet with
regards to the public being able to access West Suffolk Council
services at the Mildenhall Hub.
Councillor Neal
stated that the Mildenhall Hub was a flagship facility and
commended its success. However, he
wished to raise his residents’ concerns regarding the absence
of face-to-face representation from West Suffolk Council Officers
at the facility. Prior to the
construction of the Hub, ‘face-to-face’ services were
available at both the Council Offices located at College Heath Road
and at the Mildenhall Bus Station. If
possible, he asked if it would be possible for a
‘Help-desk’ facility to be provided at the Hub
(possibly for two days a week), where West Suffolk Council Officers
could help residents with their queries.
Therefore, Councillor
Neal asked the Cabinet to give future consideration of a
‘Help-desk’ facility being made available at the
Mildenhall Hub.
The Chair thanked
Councillor Neal for attending Cabinet and then asked Councillor
Robert Everitt (Portfolio Holder for Families and Communities) to
respond directly.
In response,
Councillor Robert Everitt firstly wished to commend the Mildenhall
Hub as an excellent public facility. He
thanked Councillor Neal for attending this Cabinet meeting and
raising these concerns. Councillor
Everitt reassured Councillor Neal and the local residents that
support and advice was provided from Mildenhall Hub. Public access
to West Suffolk Council services was provided by telephone and
computers on site or through a pre-booked appointment. A Hub Host
service was provided on-site covering all co-located partner
services. If members of the public wanted to discuss matters with
Council staff and would prefer to do so face-to-face, then that
absolutely could be arranged and at a time convenient to the
customer. There were staff working across West Suffolk from various
locations, so it was always best to arrange appointments rather
than arriving at the Hub and finding that staff were on-site
elsewhere. The vast majority of people preferred to contact the
Council on-line or via the telephone, but appointments could be
arranged for those that needed one.
In addition,
Councillor Everitt also referred to the consultation which had been
undertaken with regards to the future provision of the
Council’s Customer Service Access Points (and which had been
previously approved by Cabinet).
Councillor Everitt considered that because of the arrangements in
place, there was not a specific need for Officers to be available
on a general ‘meet and greet’ basis and that the
process for making appointments to speak with Officers was more
efficient and effective.
Councillor Andy Neal
thanked Councillor Everitt for his response and would reassure his
residents that the operation of the appointment process allowed the
public to continue to be able to meet with West Suffolk Council
staff ‘face-to-face’.
2.
Councillor Brian Harvey (Agenda Item 6 (Report number
CAB/WS/22/012): Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant
Infrastructure Project: Draft Relevant Representation)
Councillor Brian
Harvey declared a ... view
the full minutes text for item 337.
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338. |
Public participation
Members of the public who live or work in the
district are invited to put one question or statement of not more
than three minutes duration relating to items to be discussed in
Part 1 of the agenda only. If a question is asked and answered
within three minutes, the person who asked the question may ask a
supplementary question that arises from the reply.
A person who wishes to speak must register at
least 15 minutes before the time the meeting is scheduled to start.
This can be done online by sending the request to democratic.services@westsuffolk.gov.uk
or telephoning 01638 719237 or in person by telling the Committee
Administrator present at the meeting. Due to applying coronavirus
health and safety measures, precautions taken will apply to members
of the public in attendance and registered to speak, and therefore,
would urge anyone who wishes to register to speak to notify
Democratic Services by 9am on the day of the meeting so that advice
can be given on the arrangements in place.
There is an overall time limit of 15 minutes
for public speaking, which may be extended at the Chair’s
discretion.
Minutes:
There were no members of the public in
attendance on this occasion.
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339. |
Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project: Draft Relevant Representation PDF 614 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/012
Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach
Lead officer: Julie Baird
(Due to ensuring
the representation is submitted by the required deadline of 17
March 2022, with the agreement of the Chair of the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee, the call-in procedure for this item has been
suspended. The Chair of the Overview
and Scrutiny Committee is satisfied that the decision proposed is
reasonable in all the circumstances and to it being treated as a
matter of urgency).
Additional documents:
Decision:
Resolved:
That:
1.
The draft Relevant Representation, attached as
Appendix A to Report number: CAB/WS/22/012, be endorsed and
submitted to the Planning Inspectorate under s56 of the Planning
Act 2008.
2.
The Director (Planning and Growth), in consultation with the
Portfolio Holder for Planning, be authorised to make amendments to
the draft Relevant Representation, prior to its submission to the
Planning Inspectorate.
3.
Delegated authority be granted to the Director (Planning and
Growth), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, to
fully engage with the Pre-examination and Examination stages of the
Development Consent Order process in relation to the Sunnica
proposals, in order to pursue the concerns identified in the
Relevant Representation.
(Due to ensuring
the representation was submitted by the required deadline of 17
March 2022, with the agreement of the Chair of the Overview and
Scrutiny (O&S) Committee, the call-in procedure for this item
had been suspended. The Chair of the O&S Committee was
satisfied that the decision proposed was reasonable in all the
circumstances and to it being treated as a matter of urgency).
Minutes:
(Report number
CAB/WS/22/012)
The Cabinet considered this report which set
out the Relevant Representation of West Suffolk Council, under
Section 56 of the Planning Act 2008, in respect of the Sunnica
Energy Farm application.
Councillor David Roach, Portfolio Holder for
Planning, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Cabinet and
explained that the Sunnica Energy Farm was a scheme for the
installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) generating panels and
on-site battery energy storage systems (BESS) across two sites
within Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The
proposal would include the infrastructure associated with the
required connection to the national grid, including an extension to
the Burwell National Grid Substation.
The scheme was defined as a National Significant Infrastructure
Project (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008, as it was an onshore
generating station in England exceeding 50 megawatts
(MW). Consent for a NSIP takes the form
of a development Consent Order (DCO) and the application would be
determined by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy. The Council was a
statutory consultee in the consenting process.
The application was now in the pre-examination
phase. As required by s56 of the
Planning Act 2008, Sunnica had notified the Council, as a person
identified as falling within the categories of persons that must be
notified that the application had been accepted for
examination. The s56 Notice set out the
period in which relevant representations were invited to be made to
the Planning Inspectorate. This period
ran from 3 February 2022 to 17 March 2022. The four affected Councils (West Suffolk Council,
East Cambridgeshire District Council, Suffolk County Council,
Cambridgeshire County Council) would submit a relevant
representation on an individual basis to ensure that the Examining
Authority was fully informed of the matters of concern to the
Council and its communities and interests that the Council
represented.
Appendix A to Report Number CAB/WS/22/012 set
out the concerns of this Council which were stating that the
Council could not support the proposal as it stood and considered
that development consent should not be granted for the proposal, as
submitted.
Key concerns remained in a number of areas in
relation to the likely environmental impacts, the quality of
assessment of these impacts and the lack of mitigation in a number
of topic areas. Suffolk County Council
had also stated within its Relevant Representation, that the
submitted material in relation to transport and access was not
acceptable and that there were deficiencies in the highway-related
provisions in the draft DCO.
A project of the scale and nature proposed
would radically change the sense of place, the place attachment of
the residents and the recreational amenities of the affected
villages and communities, over a long period of time. It was considered that the applicant’s
submission did not recognise this and the need to
mitigate/compensate for these impacts.
The draft Relevant Representation also raised
concerns in relation to cultural heritage and the assessment of
non-designated heritage impacts, the acceptability of the
applicant’s noise assessments and assessment of impacts
...
view the full minutes text for item 339.
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340. |
Former St Felix School Site, Newmarket - Development Brief PDF 159 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/013
Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach
Lead officer: Gary Hancox
Additional documents:
Decision:
Resolved:
That:
1.
The landowner to begin a six-week formal public
consultation process on the draft St Felix Development
Brief.
2.
The possible future options for a sports facility
(as set out in Part 2 of the Development Brief) be
noted.
Minutes:
(Report number
CAB/WS/22/013)
The Cabinet considered this report which set
out the draft Development Brief for the former St Felix School site
in Newmarket.
Councillor David Roach, Portfolio Holder for
Planning, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Cabinet and
explained that the site was allocated within the Site Allocations
Local Plan (SALP) under Policy SA6(d) which was adopted in
September 2019. This site was known in
the SALP as the ‘Former St Felix Middle School
Site’. The site extended to 4.5
hectares and comprised the footprint of the former school,
outbuildings, sports pitches, courts and playing
fields. The site was allocated in its
entirety, although the suggested capacity (50 dwellings) reflected
the retention of the open space and existing tennis courts.
Suffolk County Council, as landowners of the
site, had prepared a draft Development Brief (as set out in
Appendices A to C of Report number CAB/WS/22/013) that sought to
provide planning and design guidance for the development of the
former middle school.
The Development Brief provided a design
framework aligned with the adopted Local Plan and would guide the
preparation and determination of future planning applications for
this site. However, this document was
not designed to be prescriptive. It was
intended to guide the effective delivery of SALP Policy
SA6d. The Cabinet also noted that an
element of the draft Development Brief relocated within the
existing tennis courts within the site
and this was considered to be contrary to the requirements of the
policy allocation. Provided that the
relocated tennis courts resulted in an improved facility, then
Officers agreed that there was merit in this approach.
Once approved and adopted as informal Planning
Guidance, the Development Brief would constitute a material
consideration in the determination of future planning applications
and should also be read in conjunction with the policies of the
adopted West Suffolk Local Plan.
Therefore, the Cabinet was being asked to recommend that the draft
Development Brief now proceeded to a six-week period of public
consultation.
Councillor Sarah Broughton endorsed the
Development Brief proceeding to a period of public consultation by
Suffolk County Council. In addition,
Councillor Broughton hoped that this Development Brief would
provide Suffolk County Council with the opportunity to reinstate a
sports hall for Newmarket, to replace the one which had been
previously demolished on the Scaltback
School site.
Resolved:
That:
1.
The landowner to begin a six-week formal public
consultation process on the draft St Felix Development
Brief.
2.
The possible future options for a sports facility
(as set out in Part 2 of the Development Brief) be
noted.
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341. |
Revenues Collection Performance and Write Offs PDF 135 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/014
Portfolio holder: Councillor Sarah
Broughton
Lead officer: Rachael Mann
Decision:
Resolved:
That the write-off of the amounts detailed in
the Exempt Appendices to Report number CAB/WS/22/014, be approved,
as follows:
1.
Exempt Appendix 1: Council Tax totalling £21,160.82.
2.
Exempt Appendix 2: Housing Benefit Overpayment totalling
£15,028.93.
Minutes:
(Report number
CAB/WS/22/014)
The Cabinet considered this report, which
provided the collection data in respect of Council Tax and National
Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) and sought approval for the write-off of
the amounts contained in the exempt Appendices attached to the
report.
Councillor Sarah Broughton, Portfolio Holder
for Resources and Property, drew relevant issues to the attention
of the Cabinet, including the current performance of both Council
Tax and Business Rates collection, as set out in Section 2 of the
report.
Members noted that reliefs introduced by
central Government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (many of
which provided 100 percent relief for 2020/2021) had been extended
to the end of June 2020, at which point the remainder of the year
would be discounted by 66 percent.
Eligible accounts were rebilled in July 2021 for the increased
amount which adjusted the net collectable debt to £61.4m on 1
July 2021.
Resolved:
That the write-off of
the amounts detailed in the Exempt Appendices to Report number
CAB/WS/22/014, be approved, as follows:
1.
Exempt Appendix 1: Council Tax totalling £21,160.82.
2.
Exempt Appendix 2: Housing Benefit Overpayment totalling
£15,028.93.
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342. |
Decisions Plan: 1 March 2022 to 31 May 2022 PDF 180 KB
To consider the most recently published
version of the Cabinet’s Decisions Plan
Report number: CAB/WS/22/015
Portfolio holder: Councillor
John Griffiths
Lead officer: Ian
Gallin
Minutes:
(Report number
CAB/WS/22/015)
The Cabinet considered this report which was
the Cabinet Decisions Plan covering the period 1 March 2022 to 31
May 2022.
Members took the opportunity to review the
intended forthcoming decisions of the Cabinet; however, no further
information or amendments were requested on this occasion.
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343. |
Exclusion of press and public
To consider whether the press and public
should be excluded during the consideration of the following items
because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be
transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the
public were present during the items, there would be disclosure to
them of exempt categories of information as prescribed in Part 1 of
Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and indicated
against each item and, in all circumstances of the case, the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest
in disclosing the information.
Minutes:
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344. |
Exempt Appendices: Revenues Collection Performance and Write Offs (paragraphs 1 and 2)
Exempt Appendices 1 and 2 to Report number:
CAB/WS/22/014
Portfolio holder: Councillor Sarah
Broughton
Lead officer: Rachael Mann
(These exempt appendices are to be considered
in private under paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 12A of the Local
Government Act 1972, as they contain information relating to an
individual and information which is likely to reveal the identity
of an individual)
(No representations have been received from
members of the public regarding these items being held in
private)
Minutes:
(Exempt Appendices 1
and 2 to Report number CAB/WS/22/014)
The Cabinet considered the exempt appendices
to this report. However, no reference
was made to specific detail and, therefore, this item was not held
in private session.
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In this section
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