LOCAL ECONOMY & ENVIRONMENT
SCRUTINY
COMMITTEE
RECORD OF MEETING HELD ON 11TH SEPTEMBER 2007
Present:
Councillor K Healey (Chairman);
Councillors A Crawford, M A Hollins, A C
Johnson, S J S Mottram, R W Parker, S Roberts and R Stafford
Officers in Attendance (for whole or
part):
K
Boughey Climate
Change Officer, Direct Services
P
Burns Business
Development Management, Direct Services
R
Goddard
Assistant Solicitor
J
Griffiths Business
Manager: Enforcement
V
Jeffrey Head
of Housing
J
McMillan Cultural
Development Manager
A
Millington Borough
Planning Officer
J
Rounce Consultation
Manager
G
Roberts Economic
Development and Estates Manager
J
Smith Democratic
Services Officer
In Attendance (for whole or
part):
Councillor W S Davies
Cathy Newbury, External Consultant
Apologies:
Councillors M Campbell, R Cartlidge, P A
Hallett and L T Wood
27. DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST
No Member declared any personal or
prejudicial interest in respect of any item of business on the
agenda.
28. RECORD OF
MEETING
AGREED: That the record of the meeting
held on 7th August 2007 be approved as correct.
29. 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.
30. RESPONSES
FROM THE BOARD
No comments were forwarded to the Board from
the Committee’s meeting on 3rd August; therefore
there were no responses to report.
31. REFERRALS FROM
THE BOARD/COUNCIL
The Committee noted that there were no
responses/referrals from the Board/Council on this
occasion.
32.
FORWARD PLAN OF BOARD DECISIONS
The Committee received the Board’s Forward
Plan for 15th November 2007 and 3rd January
2008.
32.1 Topics
for Consideration
One report was identified as an area of
interest for the Committee: Consultation and Amendment – Off-Street
Parking Places Order. Members requested that this topic be
brought forward for consideration by the Committee.
33.
PUBLIC ART STRATEGY
The Public Art Strategy was scheduled for
consideration by the Board at its meeting to be held on
20th September 2007. The document would outline
the strategy’s contribution towards major re-development in the
Borough of Crewe and Nantwich by means of developing a quality
public realm which would enhance projects that enable greater
access to the countryside, cultural development, community
engagement and tourism.
Cathy Newbury, external Public Art Consultant
and Curator attended the meeting to provide an update for Members
on the current position and explore the role of the Local Economy
and Environment Scrutiny Committee in delivering the strategy.
Members had received copies of the draft
Strategy and their attention was drawn to section 3: Crewe and
Nantwich Implementation Plan. The requirement to ensure that
priorities were constantly reviewed, updated, endorsed, replaced
and aligned to the Policy was highlighted. The
following comments/queries were raised by Members:
A Member referred to the opportunities
listed in the Implementation Plan and suggested that the Green
Space Strategy was more important than the others listed under Open
Space. Cathy Newbury explained that if it was felt that this
should be the priority area then this could be reflected in the
plan and prioritising opportunities was an area where Member
involvement would be welcomed.
The opportunities that would be available with
the re-development of Crewe Town Centre were highlighted and a
query was raised on how Modus would be participating. The
Borough Planning Officer explained that there were funds identified
within the planning application and there was a commitment from
Modus to participate. He also re-iterated the need to ensure that
other opportunities throughout the Borough were not missed.
The Economic Development and Estates Manager
added that Public Art helped to regenerate areas substantially and
there was evidence of this throughout the country. There were
also benefits for the visitor economy. The Council was
currently submitting bids for NWDA regional funding in respect of
Public Art/Gateway proposals and the development of the strategy
would assist with this bid.
The consultant explained the role Councillors
would play in the implementation of the strategy which would
include Member involvement on the selection panels. Clarity
in respect of decision making powers would be sought to ensure that
this was a transparent process.
The Cultural Development Manager and the
Consultant in attendance were thanked for their
input.
33. LOCAL AREA
AGREEMENTS: 4TH BLOCK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
& ENTERPRISE
The Committee received a brief interim report
on the 4th Block of the Cheshire Local Area Agreement
(CLAA). The CLAA was themed around 4 blocks, the fourth one
being the Economic Development and Enterprise Block. The
report outlined the key priorities for the 4th Block and
gave a brief update on the CLAA. It was noted that the Local
Strategic Partnership Manager would be attending the October
meeting to present a more detailed report on the Cheshire Local
Area Agreement: 4th Block.
34. ‘HOMES FOR THE
FUTURE: MORE AFFORDABLE, MORE
SUSTAINABLE’
HOUSING
GREEN PAPER
The Government’s Green Paper ‘Homes for the
Future’ had been published for consultation. Views were sought
on the Government’s proposals to increase the supply of housing, to
provide well designed and greener homes that were supported by
infrastructure and to provide more affordable homes to buy or
rent.
The report of the Head of Housing provided an
outline of the main issues in the paper and the Head of Housing
attended the meeting to present her report.
The following issues were
highlighted:
v Proposals for more social
(rented) and shared ownership homes in rural areas.
v Local authorities would be
encouraged to work with other stakeholders to improve the
prospects and pace of housing delivery. These would be known
as Local Delivery Vehicles.
v A new Housing, Planning and
Delivery grant would be introduced to replace the current Planning
Delivery Grant. The new grant would direct extra resources to
those Councils who were delivering high levels of housing.
v The Government’s approach
to eliminating poor development and ensuring that new homes
and places meet the needs of all sections of the Community through
the use of Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3).
The Borough Planning Officer added that the new
planning grant would not be purely based on the number of
houses; performance and plan production would still be factors
when assessing the grant.
A Member asked if the new grant would benefit
Councils in the South East where higher levels of houses were
being built. The Head of Housing explained that there was no
clarity on this issue in the Green Paper and it was difficult
to make a judgement at the present time.
The Committee discussed the difficulties in the
provision of affordable housing in the current housing market
climate and the need to place restrictions to retain the
affordability of housing.
The Head of Housing was thanked for her
report.
35. CREWE TOWN CENTRE
UPDATE
The Borough Planning Officer provided a brief
progress report on town centre matters covering the Development
Agreement, Compulsory Purchase Order and Section 106 Agreement
associated with the Modus development, new office accommodation and
the development of Market Square.
36. 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.
37. DOG CONTROL
ORDER
At its meeting in April 2007, the Committee
considered four of the elements which would form part of a proposed
Dog Control Order:
Fouling of land by dogs;
Dogs on lead;
Number of dogs which a person may take on to
land; and
Penalty notices.
At the time it was agreed that the remaining
proposal, Dog Exclusion would be considered at a future
meeting.
In the interim, a Consultation exercise had
been conducted on the proposals set out in the Order. The
report of the Consultation Manager was submitted to
the meeting and provided an objective summary of the responses
received highlighting emerging themes.
The Consultation Manager presented his report
to the Committee. The Council had consulted on the proposals
for new Dog Control Orders and, in total, 283 responses were
received. He explained that the report contained a summary of
the overall responses to the five main elements of the proposals
and it also contained proposals for the next phases of the
consultation.
The Assistant Solicitor provided an update on
the level of fine that could be imposed. She explained that
the Environmental Offences (Fixed
Penalties) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2007
set the range of fixed penalties that may be charged for
offences under Dog Control Orders made under the
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment
Act 2005. The range was between £50 and £80 and where a Local
Authority did not fix its own level of fixed penalty, the
amount was set at £75 by the Act.
The following comments/questions were made:
v There would be
difficulties in identifying areas where there were football pitches
or open field without fencing. The Assistant Solicitor commented
that there would be a list of areas identified in the schedule and
a list of football pitches could be added to this for clarity.
v A question was
asked in respect of what would happen next following the results of
this consultation. The report highlighted the next stages of
further consultation which would be carried out in three
phases.
v A query was
raised on whether there would be an exemption on working dogs as
this could cause problems in rural areas. The Assistant Solicitor
explained that no specific reference was made to Working Dogs on
the prescribed forms. She commented that working dogs would usually
be working on private land and would be under control while
working. However she would research this issue further and
report back.
v A Member
suggested that a percentage of the money raised from fines should
be used for education and prevention. The Business Manager,
Enforcement explained that the Council was governed by DEFRA in
this respect and the Council currently ring-fenced a percentage of
the money received for litter fines to use for educational
materials on environmental issues.
The Consultation Manager outlined the next
stages of the consultation process which consisted of three
consultation phases as detailed in the report.
AGREED: That the consultation
process, as outlined in the report, be supported.
(Note: In accordance with Procedure
Rule 26(2), Councillor W S Davies spoke on this item with the
permission of the Committee.)
38. WORK PROGRAMME
2007
38.1 Task
Group Update
The Committee received the following updates in
respect of the work of the Task Groups.
38.2
Climate Change Task Group
The Climate Change Task Group had not yet
met. The Business Development Manager provided a brief verbal
update on the work being undertaken by Officers in respect of the
Climate Change agenda and explained that he would provide a written
update for Members via e-mail. Keith Boughey, who was also in
attendance at the meeting, would be the Council’s Lead Officer on
Climate Change.
38.3 Town
Centres Task Group
The Economic Development and Estates Manager
asked Members to consider if they still wished to have a Scrutiny
Committee task group to cover Town Centres. He explained that
the Committee could receive a monthly update each month which would
provide information on the current position in respect of town
centres.
The Committee discussed the proposal but
felt that there was still a scrutiny role for this group as the
Crewe Town Centre Advisory Group was a Portfolio-Holder led
group.
AGREED: That the LEE,
Scrutiny Committee retain the current Town Centre Task Group.
38.4 Waste
Management Task Group
There was nothing to report back from this
group. However a Member reported the outcome of the
decision in respect of the Clayhanger site.
26. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING
16th October 2007
……………………. Chair