Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Allen, D Day and Murphy.  Councillor Goldspink submitted his apologies for his late arrival.

No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the Joint Meeting held on 6 January 2011 were deferred until the next meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2011 were approved as a correct record.

There were no requests for call-in to consider.

The report gave a summary of the formal complaints received by the Council between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010.

The Corporate Complaints Policy had three-stages:

§           Stage One (First Contact Complaint) – 10 working days

§           Stage Two (Service Review) – 15 working days

§           Stage Three (Independent Person Review) – 30 working days

During 2009/10 there had been a reduction in the number of complaints from 441 to 366. This decrease could be attributed to various factors such as better record keeping to avoid repeat complaints and ensuring only matters that fell under the complaints policy were treated as complaints.  For example customers complaining about benefit or housing decisions would be advised of their appeal rights rather than pursuing matters as a complaint.  The breakdown of complaints by department was:

* 6 complaint cases fell under a number of different departments

Of the complaints received 139 had been upheld, 160 had not been upheld and 67 had been partially upheld.

The number of Stage 2 complaints had remained the same as the previous year at 60 and was broken down as follows:

Of the Stage 2 complaints 12 had been upheld, 34 had not been upheld and 14 had been partially upheld.

The Council had received 16 stage three complaints, compared to 25 during 2008-09.  Of these complaints none had been upheld, four had not been upheld and 12 had been partially upheld.

Complaints at Stage 3 were investigated by the Compliance and Ethical Standards Team and investigators were asked to investigate and prepare a report within 20 working days.  In seven of the 16 cases the decision was the same as that made at Stage 2, eight cases had a different outcome and one went straight to Stage 3.  Where the decision at Stage 3 differed from Stage 2 this changed a Not Upheld case to a Partially Upheld.  This showed there was still some merit in having a three Stage process but this would continue to be kept under review. Only four of these complaints were subsequently referred to the Ombudsman and in each case the Ombudsman’s decision  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The report presented the Peterborough Local Investment Plan.

The Local Investment Plan (LIP) was a document initiated by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).  The purpose of the LIP was to provide the first step in a funding application process towards the encouragement of strategic growth projects, with a particular emphasis on the provision of housing. The HCA were the intended recipient of the document, although they were keen that it was also used as a tool to attract other possible inward investors. It had been based upon the Peterborough Integrated Development Programme (IDP), which had been adopted by Cabinet in December 2009. The LIP was more focussed and was intended by the HCA to be a very fluid document.  Regular updates and revisions were expected from the Council in accordance with changing situations and priorities. 

The LIP was presented in two parts. Evidenced policy text, from which the existing IDP document was heavily drawn upon, and a programme of specific proposed projects, which were currently made up of four large affordable housing developments and four transport infrastructure plans enabling residential development.  The LIP was not in itself a funding application or binding agreement but was a plan where the projects within it were eligible for progression to the next stage of the application process. The LIP was intended to be a fluid document in that the content, notably the project content, could be revised on an ongoing basis, with specific project cases deleted, altered, or added to as required. 

There was currently no definitive information from the HCA as regards to the volume of funds available or exactly how they would be prioritised and allocated, other than that it was anticipated that there would be unallocated budget becoming available to them during the course of 2011.

Questions and observations were raised around the following areas:

• There was a focus on new housing developments but it was not uncommon to find empty properties in any number of streets in the city.  Actively pursuing a policy of bringing empty homes back into use could be an easy win.

·       There was a need to ensure the redevelopment of the District Centres.  Was the viability of the District Centres down to the traders?  There was concern at the amount of footfall to the trading units in the District Centres and this was due to a combination of the number of people using them but also the market offering.

·       What evidence was there that family sizes were declining?  Officers would provide the evidence on family sizes.

• The document needed to be updated to include the most up to date data in a number of areas.  Some of the information also needed to include comparison with national figures.
• It would be helpful to include what the NVQ levels were equivalent to for example GCSEs, A Levels or Degree level.
• The document made reference to the need for 38% of all new housing being built as affordable but this needed to be set against other figures  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The report provided an update on what was being done to support and encourage the provision of prestige homes in Peterborough.

In March 2009 a research report was produced which examined the need for “top of the market” prestige (or executive) homes in Peterborough.  The report concluded that there was a relative shortage of prestige homes in Peterborough and made two clear policy recommendations:

        1.  Preventing the loss of existing homes that serve, or could serve, this type of market; and

        2.  Securing the provision of more homes of the type that could meet the need at this end of the market.

The 2009 report had been used as part of the evidence base to help prepare various documents that made up the Local Development Framework (LDF), as set out below. Policies were included, or in draft, in those documents which, on the whole, both encouraged the provision of prestige homes.

• The Core Strategy (Adopted February 2011): Core Strategy Objective 7 and Policy CS8 (and its associated supporting text) referred to Meeting Housing Needs, and required the provision of a variety of housing in terms of size, type and tenure including encouraging “executive housing” and “prestige homes aimed at the senior professional and managerial market”.
• Site Allocations DPD – Proposed Submission consultation version February 2011: The Proposed Submission version of the Site Allocations DPD was currently available for public consultation until 24 March 2011. The document had been approved by Council in December 2010 and would be submitted to the Secretary of State in late April or May 2011. The Document built on the overarching support of the Core Strategy, and had an explicit policy on ‘Prestige Homes’ (Policy SA8) which included naming specific sites where such homes would be encouraged. The Site Allocations Document was scheduled for adoption in early 2012.
• Planning Policies DPD – Consultation Draft February 2011: The Planning Policies DPD would provide detailed planning policy to help in determining planning applications.  This document was in the early stages of production and a consultation draft was currently available for public consultation until 24 March 2011. We would review all the comments made and prepare a Proposed Submission draft version of the document, which would be subject to further public consultation in the autumn / winter. The consultation draft included a policy (PP4) which restricted the loss of existing prestige homes. As stated, this policy was still in draft form, however the existing Peterborough Local Plan (First Replacement 2005) policy ‘H24 – Subdivision of Single Dwellings’ could in the meantime be used when determining planning applications on existing larger homes.
• Monitoring the delivery of Prestige Homes: The Strategic Planning and Enabling team monitored the number of new dwellings completed each year and produced a Housing Monitoring Report. The report monitored different tenures, but did not monitor different type and size of dwellings. We did not have a baseline of precisely how many prestige homes there currently were in Peterborough and we did not monitor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The report provided an update on the progress made towards the City Centre Area Action Plan (CCAAP).

The CCAAP formed part of the Local Development Framework, sitting alongside and complementing the Core Strategy.  Like the Core Strategy, the CCAAP would cover the period up to 2026, but whereas the Core Strategy provided an overall vision for the development of the city as a whole, the CCAAP was focused on the city centre.  It would identify opportunity areas within the city centre and provided a vision and policy for their subsequent development or regeneration.  As a statutory planning document, it would be subject to similar consultation processes and ultimately public examination by a planning inspector on behalf of the Secretary of State prior to being presented to Council for adoption. 

Questions and observations were raised around the following areas:

• The boundary of the city centre proposed in the CCAAP was not as expected and some members felt that some areas should not be included.  Why was the boundary set as it was?  The Council had not been in a position to fit this work in with the development of the Core Strategy and Site Allocations documents and it was accepted that it was not an ideal approach.  The boundary had been decided by looking at the growth area and seeing what would be a suitable boundary.  Synergies were looked at including the former PDH site and links to the station.
• Including the PDH site was sensible but the Railworld site was not as you could not access it without leaving the city centre.  Was it possible to alter the boundary?  The boundary was now fixed as part of the Core Strategy.  The Strategy was about having flexibility around the development of the city centre and controlling what happened on those sites, many of which were brownfield sites.

ACTION AGREED

To note the progress and approach being taken with the City Centre Area Action Plan.

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.

ACTION AGREED

To note the latest version of the Forward Plan.

Wednesday 23 March 2011 at 7pm

Wednesday 23 March 2011 at 7pm