Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any updates from the Chairman of the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee.

The Chairman gave an update on the Land Charges Service, as set out below, which had been provided by the Head of Legal Services:

We received an update about Land Charges Service response times at our July meeting.

I have received a further and progress update, as follows:

·       During August the response times reduced to an average of 12 working days.  This has increased slightly to an average of 13 working days in September, but is still down from 16 working days in May.  The reduced response times have been achieved despite the impact of staff absences due to annual leave and managed vacancies in the team.

·       The response time published on the Dorset Council website is 15 average working days and this will continue to be updated. 

·       The number of search requests received since April 2022 have increased from search numbers earlier in the year.  They continue to be much higher than pre-pandemic and are very similar to and sometimes more than the search numbers for the same months in 2021 when the stamp duty holiday was in place.  For example, search numbers in April 2022 were 865 compared with 803 in 2021, May 2022 was 1019 compared with 1163 in 2021, August was 919 compared with approx. 900 in August 2021.

With continued effort of the team and target setting the rate of improvement experienced to date is expected and planned to continue in the coming months. 

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit up to two questions or two statements for each meeting.  Alternatively, you could submit one question and one statement for each meeting.  

All submissions must be emailed in full to lindsey.watson@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on 12 October 2022.

When submitting your question(s) and/or statement(s) please note that: 

·         no more than three minutes will be allowed for any one question or statement to be asked/read  

·         a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context and this will be included within the three minute period 

·         please note that sub divided questions count towards your total of two 

·         when submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g. the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder) 

·         Include your name, address and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting. 

·         questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda 

·         all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

Dorset Council Constitution Procedure Rule 9 

There were no questions or statements from members of the public or local organisations.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total.   Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting. 

The submissions must be emailed in full to lindsey.watson@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on 12 October 2022.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no questions from councillors.

To consider a report of the Local Plan Team Leader.

The committee received a report of the Strategic Planning Manager, which provided information on the rate of delivery of new homes against targets in adopted local plans.  This item was brought to committee following a review of the performance dashboard and in particular a performance indicator relating to ‘Overall – Number of homes built in Dorset Council area’.  The committee wished to understand the reasons for targets not being met and explore if there were actions that the council could take to encourage more homes to be built.

The committee considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion, the following areas were covered:

·            Opportunities to increase engagement with developers

·            Whether there were opportunities for the council to build houses including social and key worker homes, including the potential to create an ‘arm’s length’ company, the potential resource issues around this, talking to developers and the public to build houses that were needed for Dorset and looking at information from other councils where this had been done

·            Opportunities for the council to enable others to build houses and particular reference to community land trusts and the role of registered providers

·            The need to consider capacity and costs within the construction industry and commercial aspects

·            Issues around the delay of development on sites with planning permission

·            Links to the government standard methodology and the potential changes which may be brought about through the awaited Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill

·            The impact of the constraints of designations in Dorset and how the council compared with other councils

·            Mechanisms to make Dorset an attractive place to build and the need to ensure good quality homes

·            Viability issues and the link to delivering social and affordable housing

·            Constraints on house building from people not wanting development in their area and the need for engagement with town and parish councils and the public around the need to build housing and engagement in the planning process

·            Ensuring policies enabled the right development

·            The value of neighbourhood plans and the need for guidance on how to keep them up to date.

The Chairman provided a summary of the key points raised and further action to be taken:

·            Further work to be undertaken to explore opportunities for the council in the delivery of housing (particular reference to social and affordable housing and housing for key workers) to include the possibility of using the council’s land supply working with developers or the development of an arms’ length company

·            Support for the continued dialogue between the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Government, on issues in this area

·            Continued engagement (communications/roadshows) with town and parish councils to bring forward local development to enable housing delivery

·            The need to gain an understanding of the number of social and affordable housing that has not been delivered since 2016 and how this has impacted on housing numbers provided.

It was agreed that Councillors Shortell, Tooke and Bartlett would meet to scope a potential review to cover the issues raised.

The Executive Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

To consider a report of the Risk and Resilience Officer.

The committee received a report which provided information on the council’s risk register and set out detail of the risks and proposed responses, to provide assurance that key risks were being managed.  The information could also be used by the committee to identify future areas of focus for the committee’s forward plan.

Councillors discussed the data provided in the risk report and noted the importance of keeping the information updated.

The Chairman noted that the committee would hold an informal session with officers to review the information in the risk dashboard in detail.

1)    To review the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan.

2)    Monitoring of the Performance Dashboard – members of the committee to flag up any areas for potential review:

Operational – Corporate: Councillors Piers Brown, Barry Goringe and  David Shortell

Operational – Place: Councillors Mark Roberts, David Tooke and Jon Andrews

HR: Councillors Rod Adkins, Andy Canning and Bill Trite

The Chairman, Councillor Shane Bartlett, maintains an overview of all the above areas.

Councillors reviewed the committee’s forward plan and noted items to be considered at forthcoming meetings.

To review the Cabinet Forward Plan and decisions taken at recent meetings.

The Cabinet Forward Plan and decisions of recent meetings are provided to members of the Place & Resources Scrutiny Committee to review and identify any potential post decision scrutiny to be undertaken, by scheduling items into the forward plan to review after a period of implementation.

The committee noted the Cabinet Forward Plan and decisions taken at recent meetings, which the committee could use to identify potential areas for post decision review.

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 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 3 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.

It was proposed by D Shortell seconded by M Roberts.

Decision

That the press and the public be excluded for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The Chairman closed the public part of the meeting and the live stream of the meeting ended.

To consider an exempt report of the Corporate Director – Assets and Property.

The Chairman read out a statement provided by the Director of Legal and Democratic and Monitoring Officer, with regard to the confidentiality of the item.

The committee received and considered a report of the Corporate Director for Assets and Property and councillors asked questions with regard to the phase 1 business case.

The Chairman requested a further review in respect of phase 2.