To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors JW Hope MBE, TM James and RL Mayo.

To receive details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

There were no named substitutes.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2013.

The minutes of the last meeting were received.  It was noted that a document containing supplementary questions from the public at the last meeting and responses from officers had been circulated as a supplement.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2013 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

(There will be no discussion of the issue at the time when the matter is raised. Consideration will be given to whether it should form part of the Committee’s work programme when compared with other competing priorities.)

No suggestions were received for this meeting.

To note questions received from the public and the items to which they relate.

(Questions are welcomed for consideration at a Scrutiny Committee meeting so long as the question is directly related to an item listed on the agenda.  If you have a question you would like to ask then please submit it no later than two working days before the meeting to the officer named on the cover of this agenda).

No questions were received for this meeting.

To consider the further findings arising from the scrutiny Task and Finish Group - Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and to recommend the report to the Executive for consideration.

The Vice-Chairman, as Chairman of the Task and Finish Group on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), introduced the report with the following remarks:

1.         The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had commissioned the Task and Finish Group to undertake policy shaping scrutiny work, alongside policy development activity, on the implementation of CIL in Herefordshire.  An interim report was presented to the General Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 10 December 2012 (minute 15 refers), with the Executive response reported to the Committee on 4 March 2013 (minute 54 refers).  The Group reconvened in February 2013 and a further interim report was now presented to the Committee on the Group’s findings to date.

2.         Officers and Members of the Group were thanked for their time and engagement on the subject.  It was noted that it was a difficult piece of work, particularly as the timetable mirrored policy development and public consultations on both CIL and the Core Strategy.  Shortly after the consultation was completed on CIL, the government had published further guidance and had also initiated a national consultation on revisions to the existing legislation relating to CIL.

3.         As reported at the last Committee meeting (minute 7 refers), it was understood that the development of CIL would, temporarily, follow behind work on the Local Development Framework and the revised timetable for the implementation of CIL was Autumn 2014.

4.         It was anticipated that the Group would reconvene in September 2013 to review the responses to the CIL consultation, once they had been analysed, and to undertake further work in preparation for recommending revised rates to Cabinet in October / November 2013.  However, a detailed timetable had not yet come forward.

The Vice-Chairman explained that the structure of the report followed the themes of the Group’s investigations since February 2013 and had been informed by the guidance and best practice report to the Department for Communities and Local Government by the Local Housing Delivery Group, entitled ‘Viability Testing Local Plans - advice for planning practitioners’.  An overview was provided of the report, the principal points and related recommendations are detailed below.

The Economic Viability Assessment 2013 (EVA-2013)

a.         The EVA-2013 had been made available to the Group shortly before the public consultation in March 2013.  The Group had identified that there were a differences in the approach taken to viability work for EVA-2013 compared that used for EVA-2011; only a portion of the full infrastructure costs had been taken into account, contrary to guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Viability Testing Local Plans document.

Recommendation 1: That

a.          modelling of the cumulative effect of plan policies, to include full costs of all infrastructure mentioned in the Core Strategy policies, be undertaken as a matter of urgency; and

b.          the results from this modelling be used to inform the setting of draft CIL rates throughout Herefordshire and to assess the viability of the Core Strategy/Local Plan ahead of examination in public.

b.         In terms of sustainable development and realistic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

The purpose of this item is for Committee Members to provide comments to the Chairman on the Local Development Framework, prior to its consideration at Council on 19 July 2013.

The related Cabinet papers of 4 July 2013 can be accessed at the following web address:

http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=251&MId=4888&Ver=4

The Chairman advised that the Herefordshire Plan - Core Strategy 2011-2031 (draft) was to be considered by Council on 19 July 2013.  He made the following points:

1.         As Chairman of the Committee, he would have the opportunity to speak for five minutes at Council.

2.         It was acknowledged that the officers had worked extremely hard but there was a perception that the Council was pressing ahead without fully considering the views of local communities.

3.         Reference was made to the allocation of land in Bromyard for residential development in the Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan 2007.  It was commented that mistakes were made, with too much reliance given to the views of the Ward Members at the time, and this situation should not be repeated.

The Chairman invited views from attendees on the general policies.

General Policies

A Councillor in attendance, referring to the Place Shaping Policies, advised that ‘minimum’ had been replaced with ‘target’ in respect of affordable housing on strategic sites.  He considered this to be a significant weakening of the policy commitment to deliver affordable housing and the policy should revert to the original wording.  A Committee Member said that the position would depend on the economic situation and inward investment, therefore he considered a target percentage to be pragmatic.  The Councillor in attendance commented that there was a risk that affordable housing would be negotiated away, particularly as the Community Infrastructure Levy would be a non-negotiable charge.  The Assistant Director commented that the consolidated version of the plan would be presented to Council.  The Chairman suggested that this question be put to Council.

The Councillor in attendance said that there had been a change to the rural housing policies since consultation, with minimum housing numbers required in growth villages, the reason for the change and who requested it were questioned.  The Cabinet Member said that this was a question for Council; he subsequently added that changes had resulted from responses received and the analysis that had been undertaken.

The following points were made about the purpose of the agenda item:

a.         The Cabinet Member said that: he had come to listen; the ultimate scrutiny on this item would be at Council; in addition to the Chairman of the Committee being given time to speak, all Councillors would have an opportunity to speak; and this was not a pre-meeting of Council.

b.         The Chairman questioned the capacity to answer detailed questions at Council and said that areas of concern needed to be identified.

c.         The Vice-Chairman said that this Committee had the Local Development Framework before it for discussion and points could be cleared up ahead of the Council meeting.

d.         The Head of Governance said that is was the role of the Committee to scrutinise the proposal being put forward to Council but also noted the limited time available to the Committee.  He added that Council would get some comfort from knowing that the matter had been through the scrutiny process.

e.         The Cabinet Member said  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To consider the Committee work programme.

The Committee considered the draft work programme, the following points were made:

·                It was noted that an update on the Waste Contract was expected at the 3 September 2013 meeting and the Chairman suggested that representatives of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Action Group be invited to attend.  In response to a question from the Vice-Chairman, the Scrutiny Officer said that the relevant officer would be asked to expedite a briefing paper for Members on Waste Contract performance; it was understood that the paper was awaiting confirmation with Worcestershire County Council.  The Chairman expressed concern about the level of scrutiny on this topic at Worcestershire County Council.

·                A Committee Member, referring to the Reviews Identified for Feasibility Study, suggested that the proposed review on Financial Support to the Arts should be widened to include the support given to arts in remote / rural areas.  The Chairman said that, in view of the financial situation, the review had been put on hold for the time being but would remain on the work programme.  The Scrutiny Officer added that the Cabinet Member Enterprise and Culture had recently suggested that the Committee look at issues relating to libraries and museums.

·                The Vice-Chairman suggested combining work on the Council’s IT Strategy and Systems with work on the Digital Strategy; expressions of interest would be sought from Councillors shortly.

·                The Chairman advised that a piece of work on Proactis and Frameworki would be progressed in the autumn.

The next scheduled meeting is Tuesday 3 September 2013 at 5.00pm.

The next scheduled meeting was Tuesday 3 September 2013 at 5.00pm.