Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 24 July 2025

The Minutes of the meeting on 24 July 2025 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the chair.

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.

Cllr Shane Bartlett and Cllr Louie O’Leary provided an initial declaration around their roles in relation to the Dorset Innovation Park.

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 either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected]  by 8.30am on 13 September 2025

When submitting your question or statement please note that:

•         You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.

•         a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.

•         It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.

•         Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.

•         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.

There was no public participation.

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 [email protected]  by 8.30am on 13 Septeber 2025 

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no questions from Councillors.

To receive the report from the Head of Service for Assets & Property

The Head of Head of Service - Assets & Property introduced the report and dashboard that was provided following work to consolidate the wide range of information provided. The discussion covered the following areas.

·       The issues that create delays shown in the report and the rolling picture in housing that influences vacant properties.

·       The rolling review process and operating model of assets and properties

·       Assets usage and its consideration in reviews and the prioritisation of properties for review

·       The measures of the transfers and disposals with a transfer and KPI of number of asset reviews completed.

·       Housing usage especially around temporary accommodation and its role in the system ahead of getting people into settled longer term accommodation.

·       Housing association’s role in housing of residents in Dorset.

·       The importance of early engagement with services in homelessness prevention.

·       The cost of holding vacant properties and how that cost is attributed.

The committee identified an opportunity of using councillors and ward specific lists to validate assets held to support the shortening the review cycle.

The Committee requested further details for asset reference 0072’s disposal.

To receive the report from the Transport Planning Projects Team Manager.

The Projects Team Manager introduced the report and outlined the current picture in terms of electric vehicle usage and the growing demand for charging facilities. They emphasised the role of Local Authorities in utilising public facilities to meet future need. Following the introduction the discussion covered the following areas;

·       Car parking usage and patterns and the impact of chargers on car parking capacity.

·       The cost of EV charging in public spaces relative to home charging.

·       The ability to charge at home and the restrictions that prohibit home charging such as, planning considerations and access to power in urban areas.

·       The spatial requirements of electric vehicle charging points on parking facilities.

·       The transparency of EV charging charges at the point of purchase.

·       The funding sources and the opportunity to meet the future demands.

·       The role of EV charging infrastructure on tourism and general economic growth.

·       Barriers to finding more sites for EV charging facilities especially in smaller settlements.

·       The process taken to find sites, alternatives and to implement the charging points.

·       The metrics that quantify demand vs provision and the council’s provision of EV charging.

·       The grid infrastructure requirements of the future provision charging for electric vehicles.

Recommendations-

That consideration be given to making the prices for charging Electric Vehicles in Dorset Council carparks physically visible to inform customer choice. 

To review the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

The Committee reviewed the work programme.

To review the Executive arrangement forward plans.

Forward Plans are provided to members of the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee to review and identify any potential post decision scrutiny to be undertaken, by scheduling items into the work programme to review after a period of implementation.

The Committee reviewed the forward plans.

To consider any items of business which the Chair 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 passing the following recommendation:  

Recommendation  

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in item(s) No X because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) x of Part 1 of schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.  

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered. (Any live streaming will end at this juncture).

Reason for taking the item in private

Paragraph 3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).  

Paragraph 5 - Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.  

There was no exempt business.