Agenda, decisions and minutes
Venue: Conference Chamber, West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St Edmunds IP33 3YU
Contact: Claire Skoyles: Democratic Services Officer
Email: claire.skoyles@westsuffolk.gov.uk
Items
No. |
Item |
373. |
Apologies for absence
Minutes:
Apologies for absence were received from
Councillor Sara Mildmay-White.
|
374. |
Minutes PDF 155 KB
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on
21 June 2022 (copy attached).
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held on 21 June
2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the
Chair.
|
375. |
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.
|
376. |
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:
No non-Cabinet members in attendance wished to
speak under this item.
|
377. |
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 01284 757176 / 07776 254986 or
in person by telling the Committee Administrator present at the
meeting. We 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:
The following members of the public, which
were representatives of the taxi industry in Newmarket, spoke under
this agenda item in connection with Agenda Item 8 ‘West
Suffolk Council Taxi and Private Hire Conditions Policy Handbook -
review summary’:
1. Bogdan
Dupir
2. Annalisa
Hirst-Astle
3. Adrian Pop
All three persons expressed concern regarding
the proposed changes to the Taxi and Private Hire Conditions Policy
Handbook, with particular reference made to the provision of
wheelchair access vehicles (WAVs). It was felt that the needs of
all their customers were satisfactorily met, regardless of the
whether passengers had disabilities or not, and therefore they felt
it was not necessary to make provision for WAVs, which were
traditionally more expensive to buy than a non-adapted vehicle. In
addition, concern was expressed that there remained too many
requirements within the proposed Policy Handbook and these were
stifling the success of the hackney carriage vehicle trade.
In response, Councillor Andy Drummond,
Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Environment, stated that
following an extensive review and having considered feedback
received from a variety of consultees including the taxi industry,
disability groups, wheelchair users and other stakeholders and
interested parties during the consultation, it had been ascertained
that by merging Zones A and B into a single zone, there was
sufficient provision for WAVs across the district to meet current
demand. It had also been recognised that the requirement for
pursuing a policy of 100 percent WAVs (as per the current policy)
would not cater for the needs of all disabled passengers or people
with mobility issues, and therefore it was being proposed to remove
this requirement in the short-term, to allow time to plan for
future electric and WAV requirements and determine what policy
levers would help best achieve this. This would include a further
unmet demand survey being undertaken by 2025.
Overall, the consultation findings supported
the changes to the Policy Handbook, as proposed, and were
considered to be reasonable and proportionate for the benefit of
both the taxi trade and customers. While the merging of the zones
would be a permanent change, the changes to remove the requirement
for WAVs and that which related to the age limit of the vehicle
were interim measures to allow more time for the Council to further
consider and develop plans to achieve an accessible, safe, green
and thriving fleet.
(At this point, the Chair changed the order of
the agenda so that Item 8, ‘West Suffolk Council Taxi and
Private Hire Conditions Policy Handbook - review summary’,
would be the next item of business to be considered.)
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378. |
West Suffolk Council Taxi and Private Hire Conditions Policy Handbook: review summary (Report number: CAB/WS/22/035) PDF 429 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/035
Portfolio holder: Councillor Andy Drummond
Lead Officer: Jen Eves
Additional documents:
Decision:
Resolved:
That, as detailed in Report
number: CAB/WS/22/035, the following changes to the
West Suffolk Council Taxi and Private Hire
Conditions Policy Handbook be approved:
1.
merge the two taxi zones into
one single zone
2.
remove all wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV)
requirements for hackney carriage vehicle (HCV)
licensees
3.
set maximum age limit for a vehicle at 15 years
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this report, which
sought approval for a number of changes
to the West Suffolk Council Taxi and Private Hire Conditions Policy
Handbook.
A comprehensive study of taxi provision in
West Suffolk had been undertaken in autumn 2021, which focussed on
a number of areas listed in paragraph
1.3 of the report.
The review brought together the perspectives
of various stakeholders and the trade, alongside data and other
information from a range of case studies and previous reports. In
addition, a consultant was commissioned to undertake two specific
surveys: one on the taxi zones and the other on wheelchair
accessible vehicles, which sought the views of the trade and
disabled users. As a result of the feedback from this review, a
long-term vision for the trade was developed, which was to achieve
a safe, accessible, green, and thriving fleet by 2030, as set out
in section 4.2 of the report. To help work towards this vision,
three major changes to the taxi policy were proposed, the first one
being permanent and the other two offering a short-term approach to
allow further work to be undertaken to consider how best to achieve
the vision. These were to:
1.
merge the two taxi zones into one single zone.
2.
remove all wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) requirements for
hackney carriage vehicle (HCV) licensees.
3.
set the maximum age limit for a vehicle at 15 years.
These proposals were subject to public
consultation, the results of which showed most people were in
favour of the changes. Some other minor amendments to the Policy
Handbook would also be implemented under existing delegated
authority. These were not subject to consultation.
The report provided extensive details of the
rationale behind the proposals, as follows:
Section 2: West Suffolk Council Hackney Carriage and
Private Hire Conditions Policy Handbook: descriptions and
requirements
Section 3:
Summary of findings from review, autumn 2021
Section 4:
Future vision for the taxi trade in West Suffolk
Section 5:
Proposed changes to the policy
Section 6:
Consultation on the three proposals
Section 7: Summary of consultation feedback
Section 8: Discussion of consultation
findings
Section 9: Alternative options that had been
considered
Section 10: Conclusions and next steps
Appendix A:Taxi and
private hire vehicle policy - review of taxi zones and WAVs (the
full report to complement section 3).
Appendix B:West Suffolk Council taxi policy review: consultation survey
summary (full results to complement section 7).
Councillor Andy Drummond, Portfolio Holder for
Regulatory and Environment, drew relevant issues to the attention
of Cabinet, including that while the merging of the zones would be
a permanent change, the other changes were interim measures as
summarised above. This would include re-assessing the level of WAV
provision and determining how this could be achieved, as well as
ensuring that the Council was compliant with its legal
responsibility to ensure the needs and safety of the travelling
public was met. This would necessitate ongoing engagement with all
stakeholders about when and how to introduce relevant policy
...
view the full minutes text for item 378.
|
379. |
Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: 16 June 2022 (Report number: CAB/WS/22/033) PDF 332 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/033
Chair of the Committee:
Councillor Ian Shipp
Lead officer: Christine
Brain
Minutes:
The Cabinet received and noted this report,
which informed members of the following substantive items
considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 16 June
2022:
1. West Suffolk
Community Safety Partnership monitoring report (April 2021 to March
2022)
2. West Suffolk
Markets Review Working Group – recommendations
report
3. Suffolk
County Council Health Scrutiny Committee – 6 April 2022
4. Appointment to
outside scrutiny bodies (2022 to 2023)
5. Cabinet
Decisions Plan: 1 June 2022 t0 31 May 2023
6. Work programme
update 2022
Councillor
Ian Shipp, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, drew
relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet.
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380. |
Report of the Anglia Revenues and Benefits Partnership Joint Committee: 21 June 2022 (Report number: CAB/WS/22/034) PDF 203 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/034
Portfolio holder: Councillor
Sarah Broughton
Lead officer: Rachael
Mann
Minutes:
The Cabinet received and noted this report,
which informed members of the following substantive items
considered by the Anglia and Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee
on 21 June 2022:
1. ARP Service Delivery Plan and
Risk Register
2. ARP Four Year Business
Plan
3. Performance report: April
2022
4. Welfare reform
update
5. ARP actual 2021
to 2022 financial performance
6. New enforcement
agency partner
7. Forthcoming
issues
Councillor Sarah Broughton, Portfolio Holder
for Resources and Property,
drew relevant issues to the attention of
Cabinet, including placing her thanks on record to officers of ARP
for their outstanding efforts in successfully dealing with the
extraordinary challenges placed upon them over the last few
years.
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381. |
Former St Felix School Site, Newmarket: development brief (Report number: CAB/WS/22/036) PDF 192 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/036
Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach
Lead officer: Julie Baird
Additional documents:
Decision:
Resolved:
That the development brief for
the former St Felix school site, Newmarket, as contained in
Appendix A to Report number: CAB/WS/22/036, be adopted as informal
planning guidance.
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this
report, which sought approval for a new development brief for the
former St Felix school site in Newmarket.
Suffolk County Council (SCC) as landowners of
the former St Felix school site had prepared a development brief
that sought to provide planning and design guidance for the
development of the former St Felix Middle School, which was
allocated in the West Suffolk Site Allocations Local Plan (SALP)
for residential development (Policy SA6d).
The development brief provided a design
framework aligned with the adopted Local Plan and the Newmarket
Neighbourhood Plan and would guide the preparation and
determination of future planning applications for this site. The
document was intended to guide the effective delivery of SALP
Policy SA6d.
The draft development brief was comprised of
two parts. Part 1 provided guidance relating to the proposals
seeking to deliver the Local Plan policy requirements for the site
and these were summarised in paragraph 2.3 of the report. Part 2
illustrated the opportunity for optional future sports facilities
– this fell outside of the policy requirements and did not
form part of the brief to be adopted for planning guidance.
Paragraph 2.4 summarised the key elements of
the development brief, which included the proposed delivery of 45
dwellings (with electric vehicle charging points) of which 30
percent would be affordable; a mixture of housing types; 50 percent
open space provision; relocation and upgrading of the existing
tennis courts to a location that was more aligned with the policy
objectives for the site; and general aesthetic and pedestrian
access improvements.
The rationale for proposing to move the
existing tennis courts, which in itself
was not in accordance with Local Plan Policy SA6(d), was
explained in section 3 of the report.
On 15 March 2022, Cabinet
agreed that consultation could be undertaken on the draft
development brief, and this took place between 30 March and 11 May
2022. A summary of the feedback received during the
consultation was contained in section 4, with officers’
responses to the issues raised from paragraphs 4.8 to 4.15 and the
changes proposed to the draft as a result
of the consultation contained in paragraphs 4.17 to
4.19.
Councillor David Roach,
Portfolio Holder for Planning, drew relevant issues to the
attention of Cabinet, including that the development of this site
was an exciting prospect which would potentially act as a catalyst
for bringing forward future projects in Newmarket.
Councillor Andy Drummond,
Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Environment and one of the ward
members for Newmarket, expressed his enthusiasm for the proposal
with particular recognition given to the
proposed associated sports hub (which formed Part 2 of the
development brief as outlined above).
Councillor Jo Rayner, Portfolio
Holder for Leisure, Culture and Community Hubs shared the positive
views of her Cabinet colleagues and looked forward to the proposals
coming to fruition. She added that she had received an email from a
member of the public who had expressed concern regarding the
proposed residential development outlined in the brief
...
view the full minutes text for item 381.
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382. |
Markets Review Working Group: action plan (Report number: CAB/WS/22/037) PDF 206 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/037
Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Cllr
Ian Shipp
Portfolio holder: Councillors Susan Glossop
and Peter Stevens
Lead officers: Julie Baird and Mark Walsh
Additional documents:
Decision:
Resolved:
That the proposed
recommendations emanating from the Markets Review, as contained in
Appendix A to Report number: CAB/WS/22/037, be approved.
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this report, which
sought approval for the final recommendations that resulted from
the review of West Suffolk Council markets.
The purpose behind the Markets Review was to
look at the strategic role of West Suffolk Council, aligning the
operation of the markets to the Council’s strategic vision
and supporting their development to meet the corporate
priorities.
The Markets Review Working Group (MRWG), which
had been appointed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had made
its recommendations to the Committee, who in turn recommended they
be approved by Cabinet.
Councillor Ian Shipp, Chair of the Overview
and Scrutiny Committee, summarised the outcomes of the review to
Cabinet and drew attention to the recommendations at Appendix A.
These were set out in a form of an action plan, which provided the
opportunity to address each recommendation in turn and enabled
progress to be monitored. It was noted that the MRWG had not
reached any conclusions that would suggest a fundamental changes in
the way the markets in West Suffolk were configured or
operated.
Councillor Shipp added that whilst it was
recognised that market traders had and were still experiencing
challenging times; however, it was felt that these were no more
significant than those being faced by other high street
traders.
Councillor Susan Glossop, Portfolio Holder for
Growth, acknowledged the outcomes of the review and stated that
some of the work emanating from the recommendations had already
begun. She placed her thanks on record to officers involved with
the operation and promotion of the markets.
Councillor Peter Stevens, Portfolio Holder for
Operations, also acknowledged the findings of the review and placed
his thanks on record to the Operations’ waste management
teams responsible for ensuring the streets remained clear of waste
and debris in the areas operated by the markets.
Councillor Robert Everitt, Portfolio Holder
for Families and Communities, congratulated regional winners taking
part in the National Market Traders Federation’s (NMTF)
national Young Trader of the Year competition. Hosted in Bury St
Edmunds for the first ever East of England finals, the winners
would now go on to represent the eastern region in the national
finals later in July 2022.
Resolved:
That
the proposed recommendations emanating from the Markets Review, as
contained in Appendix A to Report number: CAB/WS/22/037, be
approved.
(Councillor Ian Shipp left the
meeting at the conclusion of this item.)
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383. |
UK Shared Prosperity Fund: investment plan allocations (Report number: CAB/WS/22/038) PDF 277 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/038
Portfolio holders: Councillor John Griffiths
and Sarah Broughton
Lead Officer: Ian Gallin
Additional documents:
Decision:
Recommended to Extraordinary Council (26 July
2022):
That:
1. The West Suffolk UK
Shared Prosperity Fund investment allocations (at Appendix B to
Report number: CAB/WS/22/038) be recommended to Council for
approval, for submission to the Department for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Note: Appendix B did not include
outcomes and outputs for the funding allocations – these will
follow in the report for Council on 26 July 2022.
2. Officers be
requested to complete the full DLUHC investment plan template in
line with the details contained in this report, CAB/WS/22/038.
3. Delegated authority
be granted to the Chief Executive, to make minor adjustments to the
investment plan allocations before submission to Government, in
consultation with the Leader of the Council.
4. Delegated authority
be granted to the Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property to
implement the approved investment plan once funding has been
received from DLUHC, including implementing minor variations in the
funding amounts for each intervention, in order to respond to
changing circumstances over the lifetime of the Fund.
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this report, which
sought to recommend to Council, approval of the West Suffolk UK
Shared Prosperity Fund investment plan allocations.
The £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity
Fund (UKSPF) was part of measures for implementing the
Government’s Levelling Up White Paper and was the successor
to EU Structural Funds covering the period 2022 to 2025.
The vision for the fund was that ‘it
will lead to visible, tangible improvements to the places where
people work and live, alongside investment in human capital, giving
communities up and down the UK more reasons to be proud of their
area.’
The report set out the requirements of the UK
Shared Prosperity Fund and how West Suffolk Council’s
respective funding allocation must be spent on specific
‘interventions’ listed by the Department for Levelling
Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) under three main investment
priorities, as listed in paragraph 1.5 of the report. In order to access the total funding allocation of
£1,943,467 (spread over three years as set out in paragraph
1.9), the investment plan was required to be submitted to the DLUHC
by 1 August 2022.
Councillor John Griffiths, Leader of the
Council, drew relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet,
including that the Council’s approach would see this funding
supporting a range of initiatives to help:
- the local
economy, in particularly in the district’s high streets and
rural areas
- residents gain
new skills and better job prospects
- community
projects and groups that would make a real difference to the
prosperity and wellbeing of people in their area, including
tackling the cost of living crisis
Reaching this point involved a large amount of
work in order to meet the
Government’s criteria, especially in terms of engagement with
stakeholders. Councillor Griffiths thanked those that had replied
and engaged in this process, which had been invaluable in shaping
the report presented. Engagement would continue as work progressed
into more detailed delivery.
It was noted that once the funding had been
split across three years and the range of priorities, the amounts
were in some cases quite modest, and it would therefore be
impossible to fund every initiative that was put forward during the
engagement stage.
Councillor Sarah Broughton, Portfolio Holder
for Resources and Property, seconded the motion and demonstrated
her support for the proposed investment plan allocations. Any new
funding from Government was welcomed and this would go some way to
support the Council’s own strategic priorities; however, it
was also recognised that this funding would form only part of much
larger existing Council investments and would sit alongside funding
streams already in place.
The Cabinet expressed their support for the
proposed investment plan allocations, which following completion of
the outcomes and outputs of the funding allocations set out in
Appendix B, would be presented to Council on 26 July 2022 for
approval. To ensure the process could continue in a timely manner,
the Cabinet also agreed that certain matters should
be resolved under delegated authority.
Recommended to
Extraordinary Council (26 ...
view the full minutes text for item 383.
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384. |
Draft West Suffolk Annual Report 2021 to 2022 (Report number: CAB/WS/22/039 and addendum) PDF 129 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/039
Portfolio holder: Councillor John
Griffiths
Lead Officer: Ian Gallin
Additional documents:
Decision:
Resolved:
That, subject to the inclusion
of the amendments suggested by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee,
as set out in the addendum to Report number: CAB/WS/22/039, the
draft West Suffolk Annual Report 2021 to 2022, as contained in
Appendix A to Report number: CAB/WS/22/039, be approved.
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this report, which
sought approval for the draft West Suffolk Annual Report 2021 to
2022.
The draft West Suffolk Annual Report
highlighted the key activities and developments that had been
achieved over the financial year 2021 to 2022, with regard to the priorities set out in the West
Suffolk Strategic Framework 2020-2024.
The report also included the
Council’s activities to support local communities and
businesses as West Suffolk responded to and recovered from the
impacts of COVID-19.
Councillor John Griffiths,
Leader of the Council, drew relevant issues to the attention of
Cabinet, including that on 14 July 2022, the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee considered the draft Annual Report and made
a number of suggestions to amend the
document. These were circulated as an addendum to the report as the
Committee had met following the distribution and publication of the
agenda and papers for this meeting.
The amendments, together with
the draft Annual Report itself was supported by the Cabinet.
Members recognised that it was good practice for local authorities
to produce an Annual Report alongside the Statement of Accounts as
it was a way of keeping residents informed about the
Council’s activities and how they contributed to the wider
strategic priorities for the West Suffolk area.
In response to a question, the Cabinet was
informed that once finalised into a presentable format, the Annual
Report, and a summary, would be published on the Council’s
website and would also be circulated to ward members; town and
parish councils; and other community associations and groups.
Resolved:
That, subject to the inclusion of the amendments suggested by
the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, as set out in the addendum to
Report number: CAB/WS/22/039, the draft West Suffolk Annual Report
2021 to 2022, as contained in Appendix A to Report number:
CAB/WS/22/039, be approved.
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385. |
Environment and Climate Change Action Plans: 2022 Update (Report number: CAB/WS/22/040) PDF 301 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/040
Portfolio holders: Councillors John Griffiths
and Andy Drummond
Lead officer: Jill Korwin
Additional documents:
Decision:
Resolved that, as detailed in Report number:
CAB/WS/22/040:
1. Having reviewed and
not made any recommendations for any change to the actions and
activities, as set out in Appendix A, progress against the
Environment and Climate Change action plans, be noted.
2. The new actions to
be added to the plan, as set out in section 2.14, be agreed.
3. The Environmental
Statement for the Council’s 2021 to 2022 performance,
included as Appendix B, be approved.
?
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this report, which
presented the Environment and Climate Change Action Plans: 2022
update.
This was the second annual report on progress
in implementing the agreed actions approved by Cabinet in July 2020
following its declaration of a climate and environment emergency.
It summarised some of the wider developments that impacted upon the
Council’s work in lowering carbon emissions and improving
environmental impacts across the organisation and detailed how the
Council was adapting its approach to mitigate against some of these
external factors, as reflected in the actions taken.
Councillor John Griffiths, Leader of the
Council, drew relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet,
including highlighting the following specific areas:
- the impact of
COVID-19 lockdowns and the energy crisis on the actions
- the actions
against the burgeoning cost of living crisis. This included
improvements to 200 homes and other actions that would help
alleviate hardship for those most vulnerable during the crisis
- the creation
of the £9 million West Suffolk Decarbonisation Budget was key
to support efforts to become a net zero organisation
- the
Suffolk-wide context and the Suffolk Climate Emergency Plan –
which was allowing the Council to work at scale with Suffolk
partners. Membership of UK100 was also key – this was a
national network for highly ambitious elected leaders who were
committed to cleaner, more powerful communities. Membership further
validated West Suffolk’s commitment to climate challenges and
provided an opportunity for collective advocacy to Government,
together with practical benefits of access to studies, peer support
and networks.
Attention was also drawn to the potential new
actions for inclusion in the Action Plan, as contained in section
2.14 of the report. These had arisen where new opportunities or
areas for development had been identified.
The full Environmental Statement, which was an
annual summary of the Council’s performance in regard to addressing impacts on the environment
and climate change was also included at Appendix B (a summary of
this statement is included in the West Suffolk Annual Report 2021
to 2022 (Report number: CAB/WS/22/039)).
Councillor Griffiths placed his thanks on
record to officers, and to partners across Suffolk, for their
continuing efforts in helping to deliver the ambitious action plan
to achieve carbon net zero by 2030.
Councillor Andy Drummond, Portfolio Holder for
Regulatory and Environment, then spoke in support of the action
plan and how it was important that West Suffolk celebrated its
achievements to date and led the way in trying to influence others
to follow their lead.
A discussion was held on getting a balance
between supporting those that were significantly affected by the
cost of living crisis and achieving the
net carbon zero target by 2030. Recognition was however, given to
the fact that collaborative working and accessing Government
funding created many opportunities to support those in need while
still benefitting the environment, such as the retro-fitting insulation programme and engaging
local businesses in the Solar for Business scheme.
Particularly acknowledging the impact of
external global developments, the Cabinet ...
view the full minutes text for item 385.
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386. |
Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project: delegation of submission of the Council's Written Representation (Report number: CAB/WS/22/041) PDF 425 KB
Report number: CAB/WS/22/041
Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach
Lead officer: Julie Baird
Minutes:
The Cabinet received and noted this report,
which provided an update on the current position regarding the
proposed Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant Project
(NSIP).
Members noted the background and context to
the proposal. The Examining Authority had issued its Draft
Examination Timetable which stated that the Council’s Written
Representation (WR) was to be submitted by 30 August 2022. The WR
was the most appropriate document for a local authority (separate
from the Local Planning Authority) to set out its view on the
application, that is, whether or not it supported the application
and its reasons.
In addition to this, the Council was currently
in the process of preparing the Local Impact Report (a technical
report giving details of the likely impact of the proposed
development on the district). The Local
Impact Report was due for submission to the Examining Authority by
17 August 2022 and Cabinet had previously agreed that this decision
would be taken by the Portfolio Holder for Planning, in
consultation with the Director (Planning and Growth) and local ward
members. The WR would draw upon the
conclusions set out in the Local Impact Report and would allow the
Council to form a view on whether it supported the
application.
Unfortunately, Cabinet was unable to meet
ahead of the submission deadline for the WR of 30 August 2022. It
was therefore considered appropriate and to ensure the deadline was
met, that the preparation and submission of the Council’s
Written Representation to the Examining Authority should be
delegated to the Portfolio Holder for Planning, in consultation
with members of Cabinet, the local ward members, the Chair of the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Director (Planning and
Growth).
This was in accordance with the Constitution,
as set out in paragraph 2.4 of the report, and no separate decision
for enabling this delegation was required by Cabinet, hence the
noting of this report only.
Councillor David Roach, Portfolio Holder for
Planning, drew relevant issues to the attention of Cabinet,
including placing his thanks on record to relevant officers and to
ward members for their sterling work to date on this matter.
The Cabinet duly noted the report and agreed
it was a sensible approach.
Therefore:
In
respect of the Sunnica Energy Farm Nationally Significant
Infrastructure Project, it be noted that the preparation and
submission of the Council’s Written Representation is
delegated to the Portfolio Holder for Planning, in consultation
with members of Cabinet, local ward members, the Chair of the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Director (Planning and
Growth), to allow for submission to the Examining Authority by the
deadline of 30 August 2022.
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387. |
Decisions Plan: 1 July 2022 to 31 May 2023 PDF 252 KB
To consider the most recently published
version of the Cabinet’s Decisions Plan
Report number: CAB/WS/22/042
Portfolio holder: Councillor
John Griffiths
Lead officer: Ian
Gallin
Minutes:
The Cabinet considered this report which was
the Cabinet Decisions Plan covering the period 1 July 2022 to 31
May 2023.
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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In this section
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