Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Over, Nawaz, Stokes, Shaheed and Harrington.  Substitutes in attendance were Councillor Burton, Councillor Casey, Councillor Sandford, and Councillor Fox.

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2011, were approved as a true and accurate record subject to Councillor Sanders being included in the minutes as attending the meeting.

Members received a presentation of the report for the draft Housing Strategy 2011-15 for Peterborough. Members were advised that development of the Housing Strategy was a statutory requirement under the Local Government Act 2003. Comments made by the Scrutiny Commission for Rural Communities would be included in the consultation responses and fed into the final draft of the strategy.  Members were also informed that the final draft Housing Strategy would be presented to Cabinet in February 2012 and that the current draft version of the Housing Strategy was presented to Cabinet on 7 November and subsequently received approval to commence a four week public consultation.

Key points highlighted were:

The draft Housing Strategy was a major policy item for the Council, which set out the Council’s policies, commitments and programme for the period 2011-2015 for a wide range of Housing matters, including:

·         How the Council would assist vulnerable people, such as the homeless;

·        What the Council’s priorities were for delivering new homes, including prestige and affordable homes;

·        How the Council would endeavour to regenerate existing housing stock, whether that be private or social housing;

·        How the Council would assist people to get access to housing, including the Council’s Mortgage Scheme;

·        How the Council would  tackle Gypsy and Traveller housing issues; and

·        How the Council would respond to the Government’s reforms to social housing

The four key objectives of the Strategy were:

·        To support the delivery of substantial yet sustainable growth;

·        To secure the regeneration and improvements to Peterborough’s housing stock;

·        To meet existing and future housing needs; and

·        To create mixed and sustainable communities.

·        Members were invited to comment on the draft Housing Strategy.   All comments would be included in the consultation responses that would feed into the final draft version of the Strategy which would be presented to Cabinet in February 2012.   The Consultation would close on 12 December 2011.

Members also received an update on:

·        Rural housing delivery partnership;

·        Working with Parishes for Rural acceptance sites; and

·        Community land trusts and self build for rural areas;

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·        Would the Parish Councils be approached in regards to the plans for the rural areas?  The Housing Strategy Manager advised Members that the team were consulting with all key stakeholders who would feedback to their client groups.  The Consultation was available on the Peterborough City Council website and in all libraries.  Parish Councils had also been advised that the draft Housing Strategy was available for consultation and had been invited to comment.

·        Members commented on the 385 affordable homes that Cross Key homes have been allocated funding to provide as a result of their recent bid to the HCA for the 2011-15 affordable housing programme and sought clarification over how many of them had been identified for placement in rural areas?    Members were advised that Cross Keys had four years to identify where they would place units, and to date, 180 homes were included in their site proposals.   However, there had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Norfolk & Waveney Enterprise Services (NWES) Head of Enterprise Services presented the report to the Commission, on the work being conducted by the Peterborough Enterprise Centre to promote business start up in rural areas.  Funding for the Enterprise project had originally been sourced from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) Economic Participation Programme and had been managed through Peterborough City Council. This funding had ceased on 31 March 2011 and further funding options had been explored and had been obtained.

The activities to engage with rural areas over business start up were as follows:

·        Leaflets in Libraries - Thorney and Eye.

·        Leaflets in Post Offices - Thorney, Newborough, Glinton, Helpston, Northborough, Wansford, Wittering

·        Leaflets on notice boards – Peakirk, Maxey, Marholm, Royal Air Force Wittering Children’s Centre, Northborough

·        Advertising campaign in the Evening Telegraph

·        Open day events, spring into action campaign to encourage the public to visit the centre

Members were asked to consider the information presented and make any appropriate recommendations for future development and engagement of rural communities by Peterborough Enterprise Centre.

Further to the report the Head of Enterprise Services advised Members that:

·        The Enterprise Centre was under new management- NWES had taken over as centre managers in January 2011,

·        The café was closed in April as it had not been financially viable,

·        The branding had changed to Peterborough Enterprise Centre,

·        Further funding had been sourced from the council to run the Enterprise Centre. NWES have secured funding additional to that from the council to provide additional support focussing on supporting businesses to start in a low carbon manner., and

·        NWES have been looking to draw other providers into the centre, for example Princes Trust now use the centre on an ad hoc but regular basis.

Observations and questions were raised and discussed including:

·        Members sought clarification over the funding available from Peterborough City Council (PCC) to run the Enterprise Peterborough Centre?  The Head of Enterprise Services advised Members that from 1 October 2011, PCC had been provided £86,000 for an eighteen month period.  Members were also advised that the total funding figure for the Enterprise Centre was higher than this and NWES own contribution amounted to £125,000 which included the funding from other funding sources that they had secured.

·        Members sought clarification over whether the number of clients the Centre had received, had provided value for money?  The Head of Enterprise Services advised Members that there had been a fifty percent over delivery against contract, so the service was value for money.

·        What advertising campaign had there been to promote the change in name from Women’s Enterprise Centre to the Peterborough Enterprise Centre?  The Head of Enterprise Services confirmed that a press release had been issued at the time of the name change.  Members were also advised that it was hoped that the central location in the centre would invite people to investigate what was on offer.

·        Members noted that there had been engagement with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The latest version of the Forward Plan, showing details of the key decisions that the Leader of the Council believed the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would be making over the next four months, was received.

In relation to the sale of the surplus former residential care home in Eye, KEY/01OCT/1; Councillor Sanders requested that provision should be made for open space from the sale of the Croft when the capital receipt for the sale was complete.  It was agreed that Simon Webber would produce a briefing note on the allocation of land.

Members considered the Committee’s Work Programme for 2011/12 and discussed possible items for inclusion.

Members were advised that there was a change to date of the joint budget meeting.  The meeting due to be held on 5 January 2012, would be held on 30 January 2012.

To confirm the work programme for 2011/12 and the Scrutiny Officer to include any additional items as requested during the meeting.

Monday 9 January 2012

Monday, 9 January 2012.