Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

The minutes of the Economy and Development Select Committee held on 9^th June 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         An update regarding Skutrade will be presented to the November Economy and Development Select Committee meeting.

·         A Seminar regarding Superfast Broadband roll out will be held on 3^rd October 2016 at 2.00pm.

The minutes of the Economy and Development Select Committee held on 14^th July 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         The Tourism focus will be received at the October Economy and Development Select Committee meeting which will include scrutiny of STEAM data and discussion on brown signage.

·         An update on Whole Place planning will be brought to a future meeting of the Select Committee.

Context:

To outline the purpose, key findings and conclusions of the Local Development Plan (LDP) second Annual Monitoring Report (AMR).

The Planning Committee was invited to attend the meeting alongside the Select Committee to scrutinise the report.

Key Issues:

The Monmouthshire LDP 2011-2021 was formally adopted by the Council on 27 February 2014.  As part of the statutory development plan process the Council is required to prepare an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR).

The Annual Monitoring Report

The AMR provides the basis for monitoring the effectiveness of the LDP and ultimately determines whether any revisions to the Plan are necessary.  It aims to demonstrate the extent to which the LDP strategy and objectives are being achieved and whether the Plan’s policies are functioning effectively.  It also allows the Council to assess the impact the LDP is having on the social, economic and environmental well-being of the County and identifies any significant contextual changes that may influence plan implementation or review.

This is the second AMR to be prepared since the adoption of the Monmouthshire LDP and is based on the period 1 April 2015 – 31 March 2016. 

LDP Monitoring Framework

The LDP policy and sustainability appraisal (SA) monitoring frameworks form the basis for the AMR, assessing how the Plan’s strategic policies, and associated supporting policies, are performing against the identified key monitoring targets and outcomes and whether the LDP strategy and objectives are being delivered.  This has enabled the Council to make an informed judgement of the Plan’s progress in delivering the targets / monitoring outcomes and policies during this monitoring period.

Key Findings

Section 5 of the AMR provides a detailed assessment of the Plan’s performance.  The results of the monitoring process demonstrate that many of the indicator targets and monitoring outcomes are being achieved.  Some of the most significant findings in relation to these are:

·         Progress continues to be made towards the implementation of the spatial strategy.

·         Affordable housing policy targets set out in Policy S4 are generally being met in relation to planning permissions granted in the main towns and main villages.

·         The County has a total of 41.8ha of employment land available, indicating that sufficient employment land is maintained to meet the identified take up rate.

·         There has been progress in terms of employment permissions within the County, with permissions granted for a range of employment uses on identified business and industrial sites (SAE1), protected employment sites (SAE2) and non-allocated sites (totalling 4.48 hectares). These were predominantly in Severnside.  Permission was also granted for 3.72 hectares of land at the LDP strategic mixed-use site at Wonastow Road Monmouth. 

·           A number of rural diversification and rural enterprise schemes have been approved (10).

·           The Council approved proposals for a total of 10 tourism facilities, 8 of which related to tourist accommodation.  There were no applications permitted involving the loss of tourism facilities.

·           Vacancy rates in the central shopping areas in all of the County’s town and local centres remain below the national average.

·           The proportion of A1  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Context:

To provide report on the performance of the Planning service for the period 2015-16.

The Planning Committee was invited to attend the meeting alongside the Select Committee to scrutinise the report.

Key Issues:

The planning service’s work links directly with Monmouthshire County Council’s objective of delivering sustainable, resilient communities.  The service is directly involved with wider corporate projects such as 21^st Century Schools, rationalising our estates portfolio and forms an integral part of the emerging work on Future Monmouthshire.

Key areas of work for the Planning Service include:

•           Providing pre-application advice to customers.

•          Determining planning applications in accordance with adopted policy and material planning considerations, taking into account stakeholder comments and corporate objectives.

•          Securing financial contributions from developers to offset the infrastructure demands of new development and meet the need for affordable housing.

•          Safeguarding the County’s 2400 Listed Buildings and 31 Conservation Areas, areas of archaeological sensitivity, the Wye Valley AONB, the Brecon Beacons National Park and the European designated Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation.

•          Taking robust enforcement action against unauthorised development that is unacceptable.

•          Raising awareness of the statutory role and importance of the land use planning framework, building on the high levels of engagement underpinning the Local Development Plan (LDP) process.

•          Preparing supplementary planning guidance (SPG) to assist with the implementation and interpretation of LDP policy.

•          Implementing the Council’s LDP through engaging and working with communities, and partnership working with internal and external partners to foster the co-creation and growth of enterprise, community and environmental well-being.  This will include involvement with the Whole Place work and Local Well-being Plan.

•          Monitoring and evaluating Plan policies and the process of Plan preparation.

Customer service feedback

Between 2010 and 2012 the Council’s planning service underwent a Systems Thinking review.  This review sought to strip the function back to first principles: what is important to our customers, and how can waste (actions or procedures that do not add value to the outcome) be eliminated.  This evidence-based review has been fully implemented, although part of the Systems Thinking approach requires services to be kept under review and closely monitored.

This review identified that the following things are important to customers:

•          Customers value pre-application advice and advice during the consideration of the application.

•          They want officers to be accessible and for there to be open and honest communication.

•          They want consistency of pre-application advice and in validation of applications.

•          They want Planning Committee to follow the officer’s recommendation and value being able to have a dialogue with Members prior to determination.

•          They don’t want too many conditions being attached to decisions, and when conditions are imposed they should be relevant and easy to discharge.

•              They value being able to submit an application online and to search for applications and information online.

•           Third parties value being listened to during the application process.

The service therefore operates with these priorities as guiding principles, shaping behaviour  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Context:

To provide information on the forecast revenue outturn position of the Authority at the end of period 1 which represents month 2 financial information for the 2016/17 financial year.  Revenue and Capital forecasting was brought forward by a month against the usual timescale to provide Members with relevant financial information before the summer recess.

Recommendations proposed to Cabinet

(i)            That Cabinet notes the extent of forecast revenue overspend at period 1 of £1.37 million.

(ii)           That Cabinet requires Chief Officers to provide information on how the overspend position will be brought back within budget, including alternative plans to deliver the £301,000 mandated savings reported as not achievable in the next monitoring report.

(iii)         That Cabinet requires Directors to review levels of over and underspends and reallocate budgets to reduce the extent of compensatory positions needing to be reported prior to month 6 reporting.

(iv)         That Cabinet appreciates the extent of predicted schools reserve usage and the anticipation that 13 schools will be in a deficit position by end of 2016-17.

(v)           That Cabinet considers the capital monitoring which exhibits only a small variance to budget as a result of recent Cabinet and Council approval on Caerwent House,

(vi)         That Cabinet recognises the risk associated with having to rely on a use of capital receipts in the year anticipated and the potential for this to have significant revenue pressures should receipts be delayed and temporary borrowing be required.

Member scrutiny:

Having considered the report, the Select Committee expressed its support for the recommendations outlined in the report to be presented to Cabinet.

We scrutinised the Economy and Development Select Committee Forward Work Programme.  In doing so, the following items would be added to the work programme.

·         Update regarding the City Deal.

·         Skutrade Update.

·         Update regarding CMC2 – Select Committee meeting on 24^th November 2016.

The next meeting of the Economy and Development Select Committee will be held on Thursday 13^th October 2016 at 10.00am.