Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor D Day.

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.

Agenda item 5 -  Portfolio Progress Report

Councillor Murphy declared a personal interest in that he was an employee of a regeneration company and a school governor.

Agenda item 4 – Draft Flood and Water Management Supplementary Planning Document

Councillor Burton declared a personal interest in that Witham Fourth District Internal Drainage Board mentioned in the report was a customer of Councillor Burton’s employer.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two Members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions..  If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no requests for call-in to consider.

The report informed the Committee about the draft Flood and Water Management SPD. It was a technical document which had been written to assist applicants and decision makers deliver schemes that took into account flood and water management issues.  The objective of the SPD was to provide guidance to applicants and decision makers on:

a.            how to assess whether or not a site was suitable for development based on flood risk grounds.

b.            the use of different sustainable drainage measures within Peterborough.  

c.            how development should contribute to protecting aquatic environments.

The Strategic Planning Officer and the Flood and Water Management Officer went through the draft Flood and Water Management SPD. Once adopted the SPD would form part of Peterborough City Council’s Local Development Framework (LDF).    The Committee were asked to comment on the document prior to submission to Cabinet on 12 December 2011. 

Questions and observations were made around the following areas:

·         Was this the same document that had been presented to the Committee in June of this year?  The document previously presented in June was the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment which had been based on flood riskto existing areas from rainfall and smaller watercourses. In contrast, the document being presented at the meeting was solely about new development.

·         Members commented that there was very little mention of green infrastructure in the document.  One of the Councils Corporate objectives was to become the Environment Capital and therefore there had been an expectation that policies would reflect this.  The Officer noted the comment and advised that this would be looked at as the green infrastructure was a key point and very important to sustainable drainage systems.  The Officer also informed Members that when writing the document it had been decided that it would be better not to repeat all the existingnational technical guidance on sustainable drainage because the developers could be signposted to these.  The national guidance gave more detail about green infrastructure.

·         Section 5.3 on Sustainable Drainage Systems.  Can you advise if this was going to be reflected in all Council projects?  The Officer advised the Committee that going forward all developments would have to consider sustainable drainage.  Brownfield sites especially in the City Centre where there were no nearby watercourses were noted to be more complex.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Committee recommended that the Green Infrastructure element within the policy is strengthened before being presented to Cabinet.

The report informed the Committee on how the Growth Agenda had been taken forward in Peterborough.  The Growth Agenda was being delivered through the work of three separate groups:

·         Growth and Regeneration – responsible for enabling and facilitating physical growth activity on specific sites in the city with a focus on regeneration of the city centre.  Current activity was being focused on the following sites:

o        Station Quarter

o        North Westgate

o        Southbank Phase 1 which involved the delivery of the Government backed 295 Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 Carbon Challenge Scheme being administered by the Homes and Community Agency (HCA). PCC had a variety of roles including landowner, co- funders, planning authority and project owner for the overall comprehensive development of Southbank area of which this scheme formed one of the 3 phases.

o        Southbank Phase 2 - London Road Frontages and Stadium project aimed to redevelop 3 of the 4 stands of the existing Stadium into a vibrant multi functional community stadium as part of a comprehensive scheme to regenerate the balance of the land south of the Nuneaton to Felixstowe rail line not covered by the Phase 1 project. This included seeking to deliver substantial redevelopment of the eastern side frontages to London Road, an important gateway to the city centre

o        Southbank Phase 3 -  Fletton Quays which was a comprehensive regeneration of the key river frontage site east of the Town Bridge around a mixture of uses with the main activities potentially “higher end” residential uses and leisure

·         Strategic Planning functions:

o        (Planning, Transport and Engineering Services) – current leading initiatives were:

§         Planning for Future Growth

§         Long Term Transport Strategy (2011-2026) and the Local Transport Plan (2011-2016)

§         Education

§         New Development

·         Opportunity Peterborough - Economic Development

The Cabinet Member for Growth, Strategic Planning, Economic Development and Business Engagement was in attendance to take questions.

Questions and observations were made around the following areas:

·         Members felt that the Station Quarter project was a key and important project to the city. Councillor Murphy wanted to know why the latest proposal for the ING site had not yet been to planning committee.  The proposal was for office suites, retail units, food store and integrated car parking.  The Legal Officer advised that it was a specific planning application and therefore could not be discussed.

·         The Cabinet Member informed Members that work on the Station Quarter was due to start in the spring of 2012. 

·         What was being done to keep residents of the city up to date on what was happening with all the projects?  Members were informed that there was no regular publication of updates on the status of projects in place.  The status of developments had been published when there was something happening on a project.  For example the Moyes End Stand and the Southbank Development.

·         Members wanted to know which site in the city did the Cabinet Member rank as the most important to the long term growth and regeneration of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The report informed the Committee on the work of Opportunity Peterborough highlighting recent successes and priorities.  The Opportunity Peterborough business plan 2011-12 had also been included in the report.  The priorities for 2011/12 were:

a)   Ensuring that Peterborough was visible to investors

b)   Support local business ambitions

c)   Create conditions to increase skills level across our communities

d)   Increase our knowledge of the local economy and utilise intelligence effectively

e)   Supporting the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership

Following a restructure in 2010 Opportunity Peterborough had taken on a more focused role around economic development and working with the private sector.  The Council had now become the sole funder of the organisation following the demise of the East of England Development Agency and a withdrawal of the Homes and Communities Agency.  The Director of Economic Development was in attendance to take questions.

Questions and observations were made around the following areas:

·      There is a projected future population of 250,000 for Peterborough.  Where are these people going to work?  Members were advised that there was currently strong growth in Peterborough.  Peterborough was well known for environmental technology companies and this was continuing to grow. Peterborough was growing in confidence and this would attract businesses to Peterborough.

·      A member of the Youth Council wanted to know why Peterborough was now the sole funder of Opportunity Peterborough.  Due to changes in government policy there was now a single funder.  The previous funder the East of England Development Agency had been abolished and there had been a withdrawal of funding from the Homes and Communities Agency.

·      What progress is being made with skills and learning.  Members were informed that there was a champion for business who was the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills. Work was being done to find out what skills businesses required when looking to employ people so that the right kind of skills and learning was being delivered to meet the needs of business in Peterborough  There had been a lot of interest from senior schools in Peterborough and surrounding areas. 

·      Are we still investing in someone to lobby for us in Europe?  There was still a connection in Europe who was currently working on some bids for Peterborough.

·      Peterborough people have a perception that Opportunity Peterborough has only delivered the Cathedral Square.  Can you advise what else you are working on?  Opportunity Peterborough received approximately 30 to 40 business enquires in a day.  Each enquiry was at a different level of gestation.  The advertising campaign at King's Cross had brought in many enquiries. Several projects were being worked on and there were a large number of jobs coming into the city.  Opportunity Peterborough now had a good standing within the business community and held a valuable role in helping businesses through the process of setting up in Peterborough. 

·      Do you feel that there is a benefit to having a University in Peterborough?   The role of the University in the City was very important.  Education for business purposes was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The report informed the Committee on the progress that had been made on the recommendations of the Consultancy Review which had been endorsed by Cabinet in June 2011.  The Cabinet Member for Resources and Head of Corporate Services presented the report.

Questions and observations were made around the following areas:

·         Councillor Murphy commented that he had previously asked officers to address the issue of Code of Conduct and transparency of Consultants.  He had highlighted that employees of the Council had to follow a higher level of Code of Conduct than Consultants and that Consultants should be required to follow the same level of Code of Conduct.  Councillor Murphy referred to Appendix 2 of the report; the Consultancy and Interim Policy and schedule 1 of the policy which had addressed some of his concerns but he felt that the Conflicts of Interest listed had still not met the standard that an employee of the council had to abide by. 

·         Why had the Cabinet chosen not to adopt all of the recommendations in the final report from the Task and Finish Group?  The Cabinet Member for Resources informed Members that there had appeared to be duplications within the recommendations and therefore six of them were not accepted on the basis that they would be covered in the remaining 27 recommendations.

·         Members discussed each part of Appendix 2: The Consultancy and Interim Policy and made the following comments:

o        Section 1 Aim

§         Members agreed that the wording was suitable.

o        Section 2 Definitions

§         Councillor Arculus requested that the comma should be removed after the wording “Consultants are external third parties”

o        Section 3 Objectives

§         Members requested that an objective be included regarding levels of disclosure which mirrored that of officers and members of the Council.  The Head of Corporate Services said that he would have to take advice on this as there was a wide range of consultants being used and that it may not be appropriate for all companies.  An example of that was the use of Experian.  However there was no reason why staff filling interim roles should not follow similar levels of disclosure and code of conduct to that of Council employees.  The Head of Corporate Services advised that he would prepare some wording to be included under objectives to cover this.

o        Section 4 Policy Statement.

§         Members requested that the wording:

 “The Consultancy Review report made a number of recommendations upon its publication in March 2011”

 be amended to reflect the fact that Cabinet had approved the recommendations.

§         Members discussed the Consultancy or Interim Policy – Procedure and made the following comments:

o        Section 1 Process for Engaging Consultants or Interims

§         Members wanted clarification on who would be the ultimate arbiter on whether expenditure on consultants should be authorised or not.  The Consultants review group had been concerned at the level of spend on consultants and interims and wanted to ensure that it was monitored. The Cabinet Member for Resources informed Members that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee received the latest version of the Council’s Forward Plan, containing key decisions that the Leader of the Council anticipated the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would make during the course of the following four months.  Members were invited to comment on the Plan and, where appropriate, identify any relevant areas for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme.

ACTION AGREED

To note the latest version of the Forward Plan.

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

ACTION AGREED

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

Councillor Murphy commented that the Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee had received and scrutinised some good quality reports from officers and wished to acknowledge the quality of reports received from officers.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Joint Meeting of Scrutiny Committees and Commissions to scrutinise the Budget 2011/12 and Medium Financial Strategy to 2015/16

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee

10 January 2012