Agenda and minutes

The Chairman and Vice-Chair had both sent their apologies for the meeting.  In the absence of an appointed Chairman, the Committee was asked for nominations to elect a Chairman.  Councillor George Walton and Councillor Brian Roberts were both nominated, Councillor Walton received 5 votes, Councillor Roberts received 3 votes.

RESOLVED: That Councillor George Walton be appointed Chairman, for the purposes of this meeting only.

David Malcolm- Assistant Development Control Manager

Karen Carsberg- Housing Strategy Manager

Gerard Buckley- Housing Policy Officer

Councillors H Davenport, Hayley Wells-Bradshaw, M Parsons and M Hardy.

To give consideration to the minutes of the meeting held on 23 October 2017

RESOLVED- That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 October 2017 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.

There were no declarations of interest.

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 research, it would be helpful if members of the public contacted the Scrutiny officer listed at the foot of the agenda, at least one working day before the meeting to provide brief details of the matter to be covered. 

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

To give consideration to the progress and performance of the ASDV of Civicance Ltd for the year 2016/17

David Malcolm, Head of Planning, attended the meeting to present an update on the progress and performance of the Alternative Service Delivery Vehicle (ASDV) for Civicance Ltd. for 2016/17.

David advised the Committee that Civicance had been operating for just over two years.  The service dealt with issues relating to building control, land charges and planning support.  The building control side of the service was still a challenge because of the competitive nature of the market whereas the planning support side had shown a good standard of processing applications through to registration.

The principle parts of the service had not changed significantly, but David did note that whilst the key performance indicators against the performance framework were green, there were some areas of concern that related to building controls.

RESOLUTION:

(a)  That David be thanked for his presentation;

(b)  That this Committee be updated on progress by Civicance.

To receive a presentation (attached) and give consideration to the draft Housing Strategy 2018-2023.

Karen Carsberg, Housing Strategy Manager  and Gerard Buckley, Housing Policy Officer attended the meeting to present the Cheshire East Housing Draft Strategy 2018-2023.

Karen advised the Committee that whilst there was no statutory requirement for the Council to have a Housing Strategy, the People Directorate would be implementing a Strategy for 2018-2023 as part of the aim to deliver high quality, safe, affordable housing.  Prior to this, there had been external work with key stakeholders and from there a Draft Strategy for consultation.  The strategy had a planned implementation date of April 2018.

The Draft Strategy had two main themes:

·         Growth and Quality of Place; and

·         Health, Wellbeing and Quality of Life.

Within these themes there were a number of priorities.  Karen advised that the Strategic Housing team had worked alongside Regeneration and Health colleagues to ensure the strategy priorities linked with the wider agenda for Environment and Regeneration; and that consideration was made to statutory duties such as the Homeless Reduction Act to prevent homelessness.

The Committee noted that bungalows were the type of accommodation sought after especially for Older People or those with less mobility however often developers would include bungalows as part of a housing scheme and then remove them once the application had been to the Planning Committee.

Councillor Harold Davenport arrived at the meeting.

The consultation period would run from 27 Nov-8 Jan, the Committee was encouraged to submit comment during this time.

RESOLUTION:

(a)  That the Draft Strategy be received and noted;

(b)  That the Committee continue to make comments as appropriate during the consultation process.

To give consideration to the areas of the forward plan which fall within the remit of the Committee

The Committee reviewed the Forward Plan.

RESOLVED- That the Forward Plan be received and noted.

To give consideration to the work programme

The Committee reviewed its Work Programme.  Helen advised a number of updates as suggested by Frank Jordan, Executive Director of Place.

RESOLVED: That:

(a)  the item on Local Plan be removed from the Work Programme as this is something that will be dealt with through a briefing note;

(b)  the item on Homelessness be retitled Homelessness Strategy;

(c)  the Air Quality item be scheduled for 20 March 2018;

(d)  the Transfer of Community Assets Task and Finish Group be disbanded and removed from the Work Programme;

(e)  the Highways Policies item be renamed Highways Management;

(f)   the Parking Policies Task and Finish Group item be renamed Parking Strategy;

(g)  the Briefing Sessions be removed as these are now coordinated through Member Training and Development; and

(h)  the Energy Company item be removed from the Work Programme.