Agenda item

The report was jointly introduced bythe Head of Planning, Transport and Engineering Services, the Head of Growth and Regeneration and the Director of Economic Development.  The report provided the Committee with an overview of the issues, opportunities, priorities and challenges in connection with the sustainable growth theme.  Members were informed that there were three main teams tasked with the delivery of Growth within the city and they were:

·         Growth and Regeneration:  this area was tasked with the physical delivery on site. The overarching role of this team was to bring together potential partners from both the public and private sectors and get them working together to deliver growth.  The Head of Growth and Regeneration gave a presentation which highlighted the following:

o        The role of the team and its core functions

o        Current projects being worked on which were Carbon Challenge, Community Stadium, Public realm: Bridge Street, South Bank and the Station Quarter

·         Opportunity Peterborough:  this area was tasked with delivering economic development services to the business community.  This broadly focused on the following key elements:

o        Ensuring that Peterborough was visible to investors

o        Supporting local business ambitions

o        Creating conditions to increase skills level across the communities

o        Increasing knowledge of the local economy and utilising intelligence effectively

o        Ensuring that Peterborough gets maximum value from the Greater Cambridge  Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership

The Director of Economic Development gave a presentation which highlighted the following:

o        What Opportunity Peterborough was and its role

o        Information regarding Peterborough’s economy

o        Achievements during 2011/2012 and the focus for 2012/13

o        Looking ahead and what advantages Peterborough had compared to some other cities advising Members that Peterborough was one of the fastest growing inner cities and had been in the top ten growth cities over the last five years.

·         Planning, Transport and Engineering: This department fulfilled the statutory roles of the Council as local planning authority and local highway authority. The functions of the team were as follows:

o        Development Management

o        Building Control

o        Planning Policy

o        Housing Strategy

o        Highway Management and Maintenance

o        Transport and Infrastructure Planning and Delivery

o        Climate Change

o        Emergency Planning, Resilience and Business Continuity

o        Natural and Built Heritage

o        Biodiversity

o        Passenger Transport

o        Drainage and Flood Risk Management

The Head of Planning, Transport and Engineering Services informed Members that the Planning, Transport and Engineering teams now worked together in one place to help drive forward the growth of the city.  All major planning policies had already been through the Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee with the exception of the City Centre Plan which was due to come to Committee this year.  Members were given background information on what  services each area provided and were invited to visit the department to meet officers from each service area and gain a greater awareness of the services that were provided.

Questions and observations were made around the following areas:

·         Members wanted to know what the timescale was for completion of the carbon challenge development, the community stadium and the Southbank development.  The Head of Growth and Regeneration informed Members that the community stadium contract would be awarded soon and work would then start within six to eight weeks.  Recommendations regarding the Southbank project would be made to Members within the next four weeks. There would then be a long EU Procurement Process before any agreement could be entered into.  The development timescale would therefore be between three and ten years to develop the complete site.  The development of the station quarter was not in control of the city council and had been dependant on others, this was therefore more difficult to predict.

·         Members wanted to know if the amount of traffic in Peterborough had increased.  The Officer did not have the information readily available at the meeting but Members were advised that as the population of the city grew there would inevitably be more traffic.

·         Councillor Sandford commented that the council had a sustainable transport policy in place but public transport did not seem to be a priority as indicated by the further investment in highway schemes.  Members were advised that the reason the improvements to the Fletton Highway were taking place was because the Highway Agency would not let Peterborough grow unless Fletton Parkway was widened and the Fletton junction improved.

·         Did Opportunity Peterborough advise businesses in the town centre to take advantage of the events that happen in the town square and stay open later?  Members were informed that opening times of the national chain businesses were directed from their head office. 

·         Members wanted to know what was meant by a ‘Quality Job’.  Members were informed that there was no specific criteria for a ‘Quality Job’ it was about members of the community actually having a job and it would probably be a job which required a high level qualification.

·         Was there a model for the skills mix?  Members were informed that work was being done to improve the connection between local businesses and education providers in the city. Information was being gathered from local business as to what skills they required and this was being passed onto the educational establishments.

·         Members commented that wind power was well supported over solar energy by The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the feed in tariff had been reduced by 50% on solar energy.  Why had DECC given a preference to wind power over solar energy.  Was there an environmental reason?   The Officer did not have the information available at the meeting and advised that it would be provided after the meeting.

·         Had the Local Authority Mortgage Scheme (LAMS) helped young people get onto the housing market?  Members were advised that the LAMS and other government initiatives were helping the development sector and helping people to access finance to buy a home.  More houses had been built in Peterborough last year than the year before which was a positive growth curve and better than the national trend.  There had been a reduction in the building of affordable houses but an increase in private build houses. The councils local plan states that 30% of a development should be affordable housing but this was subject to viability.

·         In the Environment Capital Manifesto it mentions that the council propose to have a zero Carbon Housing Development.  When did it change to a Carbon Challenge development and in what sense was it a carbon challenge. Was it a code 6 or 3 or 4?  The Officer did not have the information available at the meeting and advised that it would be provided after the meeting.

·         Members were concerned with the new Maskew Avenue supermarket development and the impact it would have on traffic at the junction between Maskew Avenue and Bourges Boulevard.  Members were informed that traffic signals would be installed.  The scheme had been signed off by four sets of highway engineers.  The Highway Agency had stated that they were satisfied with the traffic model proposed.

ACTION AGREED

(i)                  The Committee noted the report and would consider items from the report at the next Group Representatives meeting for the work programme.

(ii)                The Committee requested that  the Senior Governance Officer co-ordinate between members of the  Committee and the Head of Planning, Transport and Engineering Services to organise a visit to the Planning, Transport and Engineering Service areas.

(iii)               The Head of Growth and Regeneration to provide information on:

·         why DECC had given a preference to wind power over solar energy; and

·         what code the Carbon Challenge development was?