Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair opened the meeting and outlined procedural matters of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Lewis.

To receive any declarations of interest by members of the Council in items on the agenda. For any advice on declarations of interest, please contact the Monitoring Officer before the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To note any Visiting Members or members of the public wishing to speak, of which due notice has been given in accordance with Council Meeting Procedure Rule 18 and 19, and which items they wish to speak on.

There were no members of the public, or visiting Members of the Council registered to speak.

To approve the minutes of a previous meeting as a correct record. The only issue relating to the minutes that can be discussed is their accuracy.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting dated 12 July 2023 was a true record of the proceeding.

RESOLVED: That the Forward Plan as at 14 August 2023, be noted.

Councillor Hugo Pound, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning provided an overview of the agenda reports and introduced Tobi Phillips, Affordable Housing and Enabling Officer who presented the report as per the agenda.

Member questions and Officer clarification included:

                 i.          It was advised that Carlos Hone, Head of Planning and Peter Hockney, Development Manager would be contacted with the objective of finding out what were the objections if any to very clearly tying Section 106 monies for commuted sums in relation to affordable housing to a particular location. The response from this enquiry was due to be shared with the Communities and Economic Development Cabinet Advisory Board Members and discussed and Cabinet.

                ii.          It was considered important that the Council had flexibility and the opportunity to help out other parts of the borough that had not got the income revenue from the same scales from section 106 monies.

               iii.          It was clarified that and the negotiations on the commuted sum for housing did not take place at the Planning Committee, that negotiation had already taken place, the recommendation then comes to planning either for approval or rejection by the Committee.

RESOLVED:

2.     That the recommendations subject to the issues it has identified being taken into account by the Cabinet, be supported:

                           i.          An informative to Cabinet to obtain more information on the default option on commuted sums to particular wards and communities, and an explanation on how the process works going forward. This information to be brought back to the Members of the Communities & Economic Development Cabinet Advisory Board.

Tobi Phillips, Affordable Housing and Enabling Officer presented the report as per the agenda.

Member questions and Officer clarification included:

                 i.          On the issue of subsidising alternative developments, it was explained that it is possible to take sums from one development and use that funding to subsidise the difference between a developer’s sought price and a registered provider’s ability to fund at that price.

                ii.          It was noted that there was no reference direct reference to our residents led provision of affordable housing, this was addressed and acknowledged to be very relevant and it was agreed that more weight would be given to community funded projects.

               iii.          An example related to the bullet points at section 3.1 of the report was given.

RESOLVED:

2.     That the recommendations subject to the issues it has identified being taken into account by the Cabinet, be supported:

                           i.          An informative to Cabinet on the addition of addressing the item on community led housing provision.

Tobi Phillips, Affordable Housing and Enabling Officer presented the report as per the agenda.

Member questions and Officer clarification included:

                 i.          The report was taken as read.

RESOLVED:

1.      That the recommendations in the report, be supported.

To consider any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent, for the reasons to be stated, in accordance with Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent business for consideration.

The next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday 12 October 2023.

The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday 12 October 2023.