LOCAL ECONOMY & ENVIRONMENT
SCRUTINY
COMMITTEE
RECORD OF
MEETING HELD ON 8th JANUARY 2008
Present:
Councillor P A Hallett (Chairman);
Councillors R Cartlidge, A Crawford, K Healey,
M A Hollins, R W Parker, R Stafford and L T Wood.
Officers in Attendance (for whole or
part):
P
Ancell
Chief Executive
T
Baldwin
Principal Accountant
K
Boughey
Climate Change Officer, Direct Services
P
Burns Business
Development Manager, Direct Services
P
Goodwin
Assistant Director, Accountancy and Audit
S
Mantle
Principal Accountant
G
Roberts
Economic Development and Estates Manager
J Smith
Democratic Services Officer
B
Vass Rural
Housing Enabler for East Cheshire
In Attendance (for whole or
part):
Councillor J Hammond
R Atkins, Placement Student
Apologies:
Councillors M Campbell, A C Johnson S J S
Mottram and S Roberts.
70. DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST
No Member declared any personal or
prejudicial interest in respect of any item of business on the
agenda.
71. RECORD OF
MEETING
AGREED: That the record of the meeting
held on 20th November 2007 be approved as correct.
72. WHIPPING
DECLARATIONS
In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the
Performance and Overview Procedure Rules, Members were invited to
declare in respect of items where the whip had been applied.
No such declarations were made.
73. RESPONSES FROM
THE BOARD
No comments were forwarded to the Board from
the Committee’s meeting on 20th November 2007; therefore
there were no responses to report.
74. REFERRALS FROM
THE BOARD/COUNCIL
The Committee noted that there were no
responses/referrals from the Board/Council on this
occasion.
75.
FORWARD PLAN OF BOARD DECISIONS
The Committee received the Board’s Forward
Plan for 21st February and 6th March
2008.
It was reported that there were a number of
amendments to the Car Park Order which would be submitted to
6th March Board 2008.
AGREED: That a briefing paper on the
amendments to the Car Park Order be submitted to the Local Economy
and Environment Scrutiny Committee at its meeting to be held on
12th February 2008.
76.
RURAL HOUSING
Bob Vass, Rural Housing Enabler for East
Cheshire was in attendance to report on his work with the
parishes to increase awareness of affordable housing need and
develop solutions to deliver affordable housing within rural
areas.
The role of the Rural Housing Enabler was to
encourage affordable housing in the rural areas of Crewe and
Nantwich, Congleton and Macclesfield. The post was funded by
DEFRA for 9 months (up to April 2008) on a part-time basis (22.5
hours a week) and covered Cheshire East.
Bob Vass explained that the two main
responsibilities for the role where to educate the community on the
benefits of affordable housing in the rural areas and also to work
closely with Parish Councils, local people, housing associations,
planners and other groups to ensure that all sides benefit from
affordable housing. Copies of the leaflets that had been
published titled ‘Affordable housing in my village’ were
distributed to Members at the meeting.
The following comments/queries were raised by
Members:
Q: Were there any
particular local schemes being developed?
A: There was a small site at
Dodcott-cum-Wilkesley which had been identified. It had been
donated by a local person for affordable housing and was a small
site where 4-5 houses could be built.
A Housing Needs Survey had been carried out for
Audlem Ward which had identified the need and there had been a
positive response from the Housing Association.
Q: What was the outcome
of the Audlem Housing Needs Survey?
A: There had been a 33%
response rate to the survey and the responses did identify a need
for affordable housing for local people. The survey results
also identified the type of housing required and a report on the
outcome of the survey was currently being prepared for
publication.
Q: A query was raised on the
Borough Council’s current performance in respect of meeting the
targets for affordable housing.
A: The Chief Executive
explained that the Council was not performing very well although
the inclusion of affordable housing in Crewe should improve the
figures. He also added that the Housing Associations and
Social Landlords approach to affordable housing had changed and
more ambitious development programmes were being proposed.
The Chairman thanked Bob Vass for
attending the meeting.
77. CONSULTATION
DRAFT BUDGET – 2008-09
Representatives from Accountancy were in
attendance to present the Consultation Draft Budget 2008/09 to the
Committee. The Assistant Director, Accountancy and Audit identified
the key issues for consideration together with details of the
medium-term financial projections.
The Committee discussed the draft budget
proposals including the allocation of the Area-Based
Grant which had been awarded on the basis of
‘community cohesion’ policy criteria; Borough Council reserves
and the effect of the unitary proposals for Cheshire on the
Borough Council’s budget proposals.
The Committee did not make any comments on the
draft Budget proposals for consideration by the Board. However
a comment was made in respect of Community Trusts and an
outstanding question raised at Council on whether the
Trust could be used to fund projects in the Borough. The Committee
requested that a response to the query be provided.
78. CREWE TOWN CENTRE
UPDATE
The Economic Development and Estates Manager
provided a brief progress report on town centre matters covering
the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and Section 106 Agreement
associated with the Modus development, new office accommodation and
the development of Market Square, Crewe. It was noted that the CPO
Public Inquiry would commence on 4th March 2008.
The Committee requested that an update on the
current situation in respect of Crewe Town Centre be made available
to members of the public.
79. VACANCY PANEL
DECISIONS
The Committee received the report of the Human
Resources Manager and noted the decisions of the Vacancy Panel
which fall under the remit of the Committee.
80. WORK PROGRAMME
2007-08
80.1
Climate Change Task Group
The notes of the meeting held on
6th December 2007 had been submitted with the agenda.
Councillor Cartlidge provided a brief update on the work of the
group and explained that, at its next meeting, the group would
consider actions and priorities for the future.
80.2 Town
Centres Task Group
The task group had not yet met. The Business
Development Manager was in attendance and explained that he had
been liaising with task group members to arrange a meeting.
Decriminalised Parking Enforcement : Feedback on Early Stages would
be the main topic and he would arrange for the meeting to be held
in the near future.
80.3 Waste
Management Task Group
There was nothing to report back from this
group. The group had not met for a period of time and Members
requested that a meeting of the group take place in the near
future.
81. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING
12th February 2008
……………………. Chair