Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2020.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2020 were confirmed as a correct record and would be signed at a future date.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive questions or statements on the business of the committee from town and parish councils and members of the public.

Please note that public speaking has been suspended during the Covid-19 crisis. Each question or statement is limited to no more than 450 words and must be electronically submitted to lindsey.watson@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by the deadline set out below. The question or statement will be read out by an officer of the Council and a response will be given by the Chairman. All questions/statements and the responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

The deadline for submission of the full text of a question or statement is 8.30am on Monday 20 July 2020.

11 questions and 3 statements were received from the public.

A shortened version of the questions were read out by Lindsey Watson (Senior Democratic Services Officer) and responses to the questions were read out by Karyn Punchard (Corporate Director for Place Services).  The statements received were noted.  A copy of the full questions and the responses, and the statements, are set out in Appendix 1 these minutes.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To consider the Draft Dorset Council Climate and Ecological Emergency strategy for consultation with the public following the development of a costed delivery plan and to make a recommendation to Cabinet.

The committee received and considered a report which set out the work undertaken by a councillor led Executive Advisory Panel (EAP), working with officers to make recommendations to Dorset Council’s Cabinet on actions that would help mitigate against climate change.  The EAP had overseen the development of a draft Dorset Council Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy which was included at Appendix A of the report.  A detailed costed delivery plan was also being developed for consideration by the Cabinet in October 2020 prior to public consultation.  The report highlighted engagement already undertaken with the wider public and key stakeholders and the proposals for consultation with the public on the draft strategy and delivery plan together later this year.

The Chairman noted that he had been a member of the EAP since its formation.  He highlighted a concern with regard to the timescale for progressing action in this area and requested pace moving forward.  In addition he noted the need for a dedicated lead councillor and officer to drive the work forward and the importance of both internal and external communications.  He provided examples of areas already progressed by the council and noted how the council had also had to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic over recent months.

The Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment introduced the report and highlighted that this was a major piece of work by the council which had gone through many informed stages in order to produce the draft strategy for public consultation.  He expressed his thanks to officers involved in the work.

The committee was provided with a presentation from officers, which set out the work undertaken to produce the draft strategy and details of the public consultation to be undertaken.

The committee considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion the following points were raised:

·                In response to a question as to whether there was enough data available and confidence in order to implement it, it was noted that work was underway and it was hoped to be able to have more accurate information moving forward

·                The length of the draft strategy was highlighted and a request made for an executive summary to be produced.  There was a need for people reading the document to be aware of the facts in detail and the suggestion was made that a series of executive summaries could be produced around each group of questions

·                The Portfolio Holder stressed the importance of communications leading up to and during the consultation period and gave his assurance that this would happen

·                A request was made for the committee to have sight of the public consultation document before the consultation period started.  In response, the Corporate Director for Place Services confirmed that committee members would be sent a copy of the communications plan and be given an opportunity to contribute to the tools and techniques that would be used

·                A question was raised with regard to the cost of implementing the items within the action plan,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

To consider the Community Infrastructure Levy Governance Arrangements and make a recommendation to Cabinet.

In advance of the report being presented to the committee, the Chairman  raised a number of points for consideration by councillors, which included whether there should be councillor involvement in the approval of the prioritisation of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) spend on behalf of the Council, the use of mitigated areas and whether unspent monies should be redistributed?  The impact of neighbourhood plans was also highlighted.

The report set out that the Council needed to establish a clear CIL Governance Structure to oversee the convergence of legacy councils CIL receipts and collection, auditing and spending of this and future CIL monies. The report proposed the key governance arrangements for the delivery of infrastructure through CIL to ensure CIL served its purpose of contributing to the delivery of the infrastructure necessary to support development in Dorset.

The committee considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion the following points were raised:

·                There was a need for a clear definition of the term ‘local’ when looking at the allocation of CIL monies.  This point was raised by a number of committee members

·                The Infrastructure and Delivery Planning Manager highlighted the map within the report which showed the Dorset Council CIL charging areas.  It was noted that monies collected in each of the identified areas would be retained within the area in order to maintain the local link

·                The report proposed a process for the identification of projects and how decisions would be taken.  It was noted that some larger projects would be considered by Cabinet, with others being considered by officers and agreed under delegation

·                In response to a question raised, it was confirmed that the arrangements for Chickerell were unchanged

·                A comment was made that the proposals provided the right balance of councillor involvement and officer delegation

·                With reference to appendix A (CIL prioritisation scoring matrix) and the category ‘Wider community benefits and implications’, a question was raised as to the scoring set out in respect of foreseeable risks or negative impacts.  In response it was confirmed that the scoring was the wrong way round and that this would be updated in time for consideration at Cabinet on 28 July 2020

·                There would be a need to look at costs when a new charging schedule was developed

·                In respect of recognising the importance of local democracy, it was highlighted that a specific proportion of CIL monies were retained by the local parish or town council

·                The Portfolio Holder for Planning noted the importance of stakeholders, including town and parish councils being aware of the availability of CIL funding and to be encouraged to bring forward proposals.  The Portfolio Holder thanked officers for their work in this area

The recommendations contained within the report were proposed by S Gibson seconded by V Pothecary with the inclusion of a note with regard to the need to update appendix A and the scoring for the category ‘Wider community benefits and implications’, in respect of foreseeable risks or negative impacts.

Recommendation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

To review the Place Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan (attached).

To review the Cabinet Forward Plan (click on link below to view):

https://moderngov.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId=130&RP=152

To review recent Cabinet decisions (click on links below to view):

5 May 2020

30 June 2020

Councillors considered the committee’s forward plan and the Chairman noted that new overview and scrutiny committees would be in place from September 2020.  A list of proposals for future topics had been included at the end of the forward plan.

A link to the decisions taken by Cabinet at recent meetings had been provided.  No comments were made at the meeting.

The Chairman offered his thanks to members of the committee and officers who had supported the committee.  He noted the need to ensure that scrutiny was adequately resourced.

The Executive Director of Place thanked the Chairman, Vice-chairman and committee for the support provided to the Place Directorate and the role that they had played.

The Vice-chairman, C Brooks, on behalf of the committee, thanked the Chairman for his role in leading the committee and offered best wishes for the future.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph x of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There is no exempt business on this agenda.

There was no exempt business.