Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interests made by Members.

There were no members of the public present. The Chair advised that she would speak to the Chair of Democratic Services regarding engaging the public.

Context:

Members considered a report which informed Council of the results of the recent consultation on a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule (PDCS) and of progress made on preparatory work for CIL.

Key Issues:

CIL is a new levy that local authorities (LA) in England and Wales can choose to charge on new developments in their area. The money can be used to support development by funding infrastructure that the local community needs.  It applies to most new buildings and charges are based on the size and type of the new development. The CIL regulations came into force on 6 April 2010. However, liability to pay CIL for a development will not arise until the LA has implemented a charging schedule (which has to be based on an up-to-date development plan, i.e. a Local Development Plan (LDP), and is subject to consultation). A guidance note describing how CIL operates is attached as Appendix A.

It was resolved at a meeting of Full Council on 27 June 2013 to commence preparatory work for CIL with a view to adopting a CIL charge as soon as is practicable following adoption of the Monmouthshire LDP. Subsequently, the LDP was adopted on 27 February 2014.

A PDCS has been prepared for consultation purposes. The Charging Schedule has to undergo two rounds of public consultation and a likely Examination in Public. The current timetable (if Council agrees to the implementation of CIL) envisages adoption of CIL in September 2015, although some aspects of the process, such as the appointment of an inspector for the public examination, are not in the Council’s control.

There are two elements to the production of a CIL charging schedule – a viability assessment and an infrastructure assessment. A study has been undertaken to establish the levels of CIL that are feasible because a CIL charge should not affect scheme viability and prevent development coming forward in an area. CIL is paid as so much per square metre. In Monmouthshire CIL will mainly be applied to residential development, as out-of-town retail schemes are the only non-residential developments on which it is feasible to charge. The proposed charges will vary by area/type of development and are set out in detail in the PDCS. As an illustration, on a ‘typical’ three bedroom semi-detached house the proposed charges would be £4,800 on strategic sites and small sites in Severnside and £8,800 on most other sites in Monmouthshire.

LAs are required to undertake an infrastructure assessment to identify the need for and cost of infrastructure to support the level of development set out in the LDP. As part of this process a Draft Infrastructure Plan was prepared to support the LDP at Examination and was reported to Council at its meeting on 27 June 2013. CIL will replace a substantial element of the funding currently received from Section 106 Agreements, although Section 106 funding will still be required for infrastructure necessary to ensure that a development comes forward (e.g. access improvements),  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Context:

A report was presented to members with an overview of tourism related planning policies to enable consideration of the extent to which the Local Development Plan (LDP) supports the Council’s objectives for growing our tourism economy.

Key Issues:

To aid consideration of this topic, this report is divided into two sections.  Firstly, the table in the report sets out the various types of tourism-related development and shows how they would be considered under the LDP.  The table is traffic-light rated to show where policies are supportive (green), supportive only in certain circumstances (amber), or prohibitive/no relevant policy (red).  The second section of the report looks at tourism-related planning applications determined since the LDP was adopted.  This section utilises details from the LDP Annual Monitoring Report to investigate planning approvals, and a separate analysis of applications refused, to identify any issues arising. 

Member Scrutiny:

A Member asked for clarification on yurt/tepees qualification for tourist use. The Officer answered that discussions had taken place on control of use, the thought was that the yurts could be in place for 10 months of the year. The issue then being that taking the yurts down for 2 months causes challenges, as some of these were significant structures to dismantle. Controls over occupation with conditions set would be more prudent in this case.

It was questioned by Members what approach other authorities take. The Officer answered that various issues and appeals had been researched.

A Member commented that tourism is changing rapidly and we should be leading authorities with best practice.

Enforcement and retrospective planning persimmon was discussed and will be addressed at the annual performance review.

A Member commented that we need to be mindful of the funding opportunities coming forward for the RDP and leader programme for further funding for things such as agricultural diversification. If the funding is there but our planning policy does not support it, these projects will not come forward.

The Committee were presented with information on tourist related developments.

There was discussion regarding visitor accommodation and whether there should be more sites specifically listed for hotel type accommodation. The plan allocates four for accommodation, Hendre Mansion, Piercefield House, Croft-Y-Bwla and a Premier Inn, Portal Road Monmouth. A Member commented that Piercefield House had been granted planning permission for a hotel previously, the Head of Planning advised he would check on the status of this and report back to the Committee (ACTION M.H).

Members were advised by the Strategic Food and Tourism Manager that it was important to monitor the type of accommodation offered, and to address the current imbalance of bed stock.  The Head of Planning advised that the LDP Annual Monitoring Report would seek to capture this information in the future.

Context:

A report was presented to members with an overview of tourism related planning policies to enable consideration of the extent to which the Local Development Plan (LDP) supports the Council’s objectives for growing our tourism economy.

Key Issues:

To aid consideration of this topic, this report is divided into two sections. Firstly, the table in the report sets out the various types of tourism-related development and shows how they would be considered under the LDP. The table is traffic-light rated to show where policies are supportive (green), supportive only in certain circumstances (amber), or prohibitive/no relevant policy (red). The second section of the report looks at tourism-related planning applications determined since the LDP was adopted. This section utilises details from the LDP Annual Monitoring Report to investigate planning approvals, and a separate analysis of applications refused, to identify any issues arising.  The Head of Planning reported that, based on the evidence to date, it can be concluded that the LDP is supporting appropriate tourism development.  The situation will continue to be monitored and the 2016 LDP Annual Monitoring Report could be reported back to the Select Committee if desired.

Member Scrutiny:

The Committee held a brief discussion on these potential future areas for scrutiny, in which they recognised there is a need to balance the value of the Section 106 contribution against the need to attract development.  There was an acknowledgement that whilst attempts should be made to maximise Section 106 contributions, there is a need to be mindful that too high a Section 106 contribution may detract inward investment. The Committee discussed Section 106 contributions in relation to affordable housing and were advised that this is scrutinised on an ongoing basis by the Strong Communities Select Committee, whose meetings could be attended by Members of the Economy and Development Committee.  The Committee felt there may still be a need to assess the extent to which the Local Development Plan supports regeneration, in a similar vein to their scrutiny of its application to tourism development, however, at this stage, Members needed a better understanding of the Planning function and its obligations and how well they are performing, possibly though scrutiny of their Service Plan.  The Head of Planning, Place and Enterprise advised that he is in the process of preparing an Annual Performance Report for submission to Welsh Government on 19^th November and that this report may serve as a useful starting point for the Committee’s scrutiny.

i)             Economy & Development Select Work Programme for 2015/16

We noted items on the future work programme as follows:

Meeting 4^th November 2015 10.00am

• Budget Mandates

Meeting 16^th November 2.00pm

• Special Meeting - Scrutiny of the performance of the function via the Annual Performance Report (due for submission to Welsh Government on 20th November)

Meeting 26^th November 2015

The scrutiny Manager advised that the ordinary meeting on 26^th November would table the following items:

·         Performance Report on the Support offered to Businesses through the Monmouthshire Enterprise Strategy

·         Scrutiny of the Chief Officer’s Annual Report on Enterprise

·         Progress Report on Events Strategy

·         Consideration of Community Infrastructure Levy Projects

·         Scrutiny of the Budget Monitoring Report for Month 6

The Chair reminded Members that they had agreed to hold discussions with businesses in respect of the level of support they receive and the Scrutiny Manager advised that this would be best achieved by engaging with business outside of the formal committee format.  The Chair suggested holding a ‘roadshow’ or ‘breakfast gathering’ with businesses in the New Year, which was supported by the Committee.  The Chair and the Scrutiny Manager agreed to request support from the Council’s Communications Team to publicise the event, in order to maximise the engagement potential with the business community.

The Scrutiny Manager advised items on the work programme were subject to change.

ii) Cabinet & Council forward Work Planner

            We received and noted the Cabinet and Council forward work plan.

Special Meeting 4^th Nov 2015

Members noted future dates of Economy and Development Select Committee Meetings:

Special Meeting 4^th November 2015           10.00am

Special Meeting 16^th November                  2.00pm

Meeting 26^th November 2015                       10.00am