Agenda and minutes

No apologies were received.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2013 were approved as a true and accurate record, subject to the word sunk costs under ‘ACTIONS’ 1. on page 7 being changed to projected costs.

The Executive Director of Strategic Resources introduced the report which provided the Commission with a detailed update on the current business model compared to previous published models and the results of various studies and surveys that had since been carried out.

The following subjects were raised within the report:

·         Dual Use Proposals.

·         Alternative available land for the Ground Mounted Solar Panels.

·         Sensitivities around the two sites near America Farm (Oxney Grange and Flag Fen)

·         The future of Council Farms Estate and Tenant Farmers

·         Tenant Farmers Strategy and Strategic Working Group

·         Clarification of consultations to date and planned

·         Details of reports commissioned in relation to ecological and biodiversity concerns

·         Financial model robustness

·         Financial Risk: Market Volatility

·         Planning Conditions Update: Archaeology

·         Soil Surveys

·         Planning Risk: Public Inquiry

·         Planning Risk: Community Engagement

·         Legal Implications

The Commission was asked to consider the report and feedback any comments.

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·         Councillor Harrington requested permission to record the meeting. His request was approved by the Chairman, the Commission and members of public.

·         Mr Richard Olive, Peterborough Friends of the Earth addressed the Commission and commented that Friends of the Earth would like to ensure that the Council’s proposals to have Ground Mounted and wind developments at Newborough, Morris Fen and America Farm were sound and would not harm the future reputation of renewable energy. Friends of the Earth had studied the Council’s proposed scheme and have drawn the conclusion that the scheme was not economically viable. It was possible to get higher returns through other forms of investment. In summary Friends of the Earth did not believe that the Council was taking the full cost of the scheme in to account. The Executive Director of Strategic Resources agreed to reply to Mr Olive outside of the meeting. The reply would be circulated to Members in writing.

·         Members commented that that they had been made aware that a Member of the Commission had engaged in a discussion with the Executive Director of Strategic Resources prior to the meeting and had been given the opportunity to send questions to him. Members queried why they did not get the same opportunity to submit their questions prior to the meeting. The Executive Director of Strategic Resources advised Members that it was a purely opportunistic meeting at the railway station. Due to the number of questions the Member had to ask, the Member was asked to submit the questions in writing to give sufficient time for accurate answers. Members suggested that in future the Executive Director of Strategic Resources gave this opportunity to all Members.

·         Members were concerned that the Council would spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on the project when there was a big risk that the proposal could be refused. Members were advised that it was only the Morris Fen site that was subject to any decision making by the Secretary of State, therefore there was only one site out of the three which was under the Communities and Local Government’s official  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.