Agenda and minutes

Frank Jordan - Executive Director – Place

Andrew Round - Director of Growth and Regeneration

David Malcolm - Head of Planning (regulation)

Julian Cobley – Managing Director the Skills & Growth Company

Mark Thompson – East Cheshire Engine of the North

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2016.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

Councillor Beverly Dooley declared a pecuniary interest in respect of item 7 - Engine of the North - on the grounds that she owned land to the South of Macclesfield. She took no part in the proceedings in respect of this matter.

Councillor Tony Dean declared a non- pecuniary interest in respect of item 8 – relating to the Skills and Growth Company.

To provide an opportunity for Members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the Agenda

There were no declarations of the existence of a party whip.

A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit of the Committee.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers.

Note: in order for officers to undertake any background, it would be helpful if members of the public notified the Scrutiny Officer listed at the foot of the Agenda t least one working day before the meeting with brief details of the matter to be covered.

There were no members of the public present who wished to speak.

To consider a report of the Head of Planning (Regulation).

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Planning (regulation) on the progress and performance of Civicance Ltd for the first half of 2016/17.

Activity across the business had continued to be busy. Some of the highlights included over 3000 planning applications being resgistered; 1350 building regulation applications; responding to 60 dangerous structures; and handling over 4800 land charge search requests.

Building control remained a challenging competitive market, however work was now undertaken on a daily basis for Staffordshire Moorlands and High Peak District Councils.

In response to a question about the timeframe to implement quality assurance measures, David Malcolm informed the committee that this was covered in the improvement plan and would be in the next 3 months, although he expected that there would be a requirements to provide more training for staff for instance in connection with validation check lists which were now out of date.

In response to a query seeking clarification as to why the planning portal did not currently indicate when a planning application had been ‘called–in’ by a Member of the Council, David explained that there was no reason why this could not be achieved and that the subsequent decision could also be communicated to the member concerned.

RESOLVED –

(a)          That the performance report be received and noted;

(b)          That David Malcolm be invited back to this committee in six months time to provide an update on the implementation of quality assurance measures.

To consider a report of Director of Growth and Regeneration.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Growth and Regeneration on the performance of the East Cheshire Engine of the North Alternative Service Delivery Vehicle.

Andrew Round informed the Committee that the contractual arrangements with Engine of the North differed from other ASDVs at the Council in that Engine of the North did not have a revenue budget. Instead, virtually all of its activity was capitalised because its primary purpose was to generate capital receipts.

A list of draft key performance indicators were presented to the Committee. These would be reviewed after one year. It was noted that the delivery programme had slipped one year.

The committee raised a number of questions about the performance of Engine of the North. Members were informed that there was a high risk to much of the business dealings of Engine of the North which resulted from managing a complex development programme

RESOLVED -

(a)  That the report be received;

(b)  That The Strategic Director Place be requested to report back to this committee in the new year with additional information on:

·         Whether the Council is providing Engine of the North with a clear brief to meet the Key Performance Indicator targets;

·         Whether expectations around Capital receipts are realistic and if not, whether they should be re-set.

To consider a report of the Director of Growth and Regeneration.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director Place on the performance of the Skills and Regeneration Company which had begun trading in April 2016.

A comprehensive performance framework had been included in the contract between the Council and the company with performance measures agreed and aligned to eight company priorities.

The Committee concluded that it was too early to properly assess the performance of the company and suggested that a further performance report be submitted in April 2017.

RESOLVED

(a)  That the report be received;

(b)  That the Executive Director Place be requested to submit a performance report to this committee in April 2017

To review the current Work Programme

The Committee reviewed its work programme.

RESOLVED – That the following amendments be approved:

·         That the item relating to CIL be programmed in the first instance for February 2017 to consider draft proposals and final proposals being submitted in September 2017;

·         That the item relating to LEP be deleted and that a Member briefing be arranged setting out the functions of the LEP including details of its work programme and business plan;

·         That the item relating to Lifelong learning be dealt with at the 21 November 2016 meeting;

·         That an update be provided on credit unions;

·         That the item relating to HMOs be dealt with at the 21 November 2016 meeting;

·         That the item relating to Crewe Town Centre Regeneration be dealt with in January 2017;

·         That the item relating to Macclesfield Town Centre Regeneration be dealt with in March 2017

To note the current forward plan, identify any new items, and to determine whether any further examination of new issues is appropriate.

The Committee considered the current forward plan.

RESOLVED – That the forward plan be received and noted.