Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and declarations of interest.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Criscione, De Vries and Sell.

Councillor Smith said that he was substituting for Councillor Criscione.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meetings held on 14 July 2022 were approved as an accurate record.

To consider any responses of the Executive to reports of the Committee.

There were no matters to report.

To consider any matter referred for call in.

There were no matters to report.

The Chair said that following discussion with the Vice-Chair he would be bringing items 8 and 9 forward on the agenda.

He said that there had been considerable discussion about operational matters in the Housing Department, which was being dealt with efficiently by the Governance and Audit Performance (GAP) Committee and the Housing Board. He suggested that Members read the papers for the 27 September Housing Board meeting and said that some health and safety deficiencies going back over ten years had been identified, which the Chief Executive was efficiently addressing.

The Leader said they were still in discussion with the government and that it would not be appropriate to comment.

To receive the updated Cabinet Forward Plan.

The Plan was noted.

To receive the updated Scrutiny Work Programme.

The Work Programme was noted.

To consider and provide feedback on the proposed principles set out within the Zero Carbon Community Fund report.

The Assistant Director for Environmental Services presented the Zero Carbon Communities Fund Report.

He recommended that Members consider and provide feedback on the proposed principles of the fund.

He said that the fund would allow community projects to be funded by the District Council to reduce carbon emissions from public organisations and had been recommended by the Energy and Climate Change Working Group.

Following a question from a Member the Assistant Director for Environmental Services confirmed that feasibility studies could be included as projects that would be considered for the fund.

The Chair thanked the Assistant Director for Environmental Services and Councillor Pepper for their work on this well thought out, sound and sensible approach

To note the proposed year two Delivery Plan for 2022/23.

The Portfolio Holder for the Economy, Investment and Corporate Strategy presented the Economic Recovery Delivery Plan – Year 2 Progress Report.

He recommended that Members noted the proposed Year 2 Delivery Plan for 2022/23.

He said:

·        The Year 2 for 2022 and 2023 had been delayed due to a lack of staff resources as well as the submission for grant funding from the UK Prosperity Fund from the government. The plan was now submitted, had been approved by our MP and was awaiting results

·        The thrust of the programme was that those most affected by Covid were most likely to be affected by the economic downturn, so the focus of the recovery plan was likely to continue in the current climate

·         There were two new risks affecting the execution of the plan and failure to appoint the additional staff required could delay execution of the targets

·         There was a desire to further build on activities in the current plan

In response to questions from Members the Portfolio Holder for the Economy, Investment and Corporate Strategy said that:

·         The bank interest rates would impact the plan and that evidence would be provided to support the businesses who would be further consider their business plans

·         They would continue to try to better help residents access the car parks. The system was working well, the card issues had been fixed and there was only a 1% rejection rate

·         The car parking review was currently in draft form and would be published in the next few weeks

·         Sympathetic allowances were made for vulnerable individuals and season tickets could be extended where appropriate

·         The group running the Discover Uttlesford app have reported good uptake and superficially the evidence is that people are looking at it which should help the sector in the future

The Chair thanked the Portfolio Holder for the Economy, Investment and Corporate Strategy for his well-managed portfolio that provided comprehensive reporting.

The proposed year 2 Delivery Plan for 2022/23 was noted.

To note progress with the actions on each of the Pathways.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning and the Local Plan presented the Planning Service Progress Report.

He recommended that Members noted progress with the actions on each of the Pathways.

The Chair said that he would also discuss the Local Plan under this item.

The Leader said that there would be a Joint Local Plan Leadership Group and Scrutiny Session arranged for 10 October where further details would be provided.

The Chair said that Councillor Bagnall would Chair the Joint Session.

In response to questions from the previous Scrutiny meeting the Portfolio Holder for Planning and the Local Plan said that:

• The provision of a duty planner was becoming less commonplace nationally. The administration were not in a position to reinstate that service due to staffing levels, but it would be reviewed in the new year
• Access to officers through the telephone was similarly impacted and could not be provided other than on a specific case by case basis
• There was not a programme in place that enabled the reporting of response to emails timings
• Paid Pre-Application Advice fees across the district totalled £117k so far this year, in response to 262 requests for advice
• There had been thirty nine major applications this year, four of which had proceeded to the Planning Inspectorate under the s62A designation route.
• Enforcement remained an important topic for residents, the register was now up to date. It was not possible to provide information into the public domain until the enforcement had taken place due to GDPR. This year there had been 141 new cases and 134 cases had been closed
• Section 106 required further work, and it was anticipated that it all would be uploaded to Exacom by the end of 2022
• Councillor Merifield had said that if required she would consider appearing before Scrutiny although she noted that all matters had been considered by the Planning Committee

In response to questions from Members the Director of Planning said:

·        The Council did not have a software system that tracked the timescale of responses to emails. He said that the expectation was that responses were made within ten working days.

·         Exacom would be online in December to track S106 Planning Obligations, subject to the external consultants working to the agreed time. Exacom were awaiting an external provider to input data, which was a laborious and time consuming task.

·         In response to a comment by the Leader, who highlighted that a recent poll of planners within the whole of Essex had identified a shortage of applicants responding to vacancies, and a shortage of planners being trained, the Director said that post-Covid planners can now work remotely across far larger areas and that this had contributed to shortages across the country. He was working to make the planning jobs as appealing as possible and with the agreement of the cabinet member he had put forward improved job descriptions supporting learning development and intended to run a campaign in the next few weeks, to ensure that they can attract  ...  view the full minutes text for item SC9