Agenda and minutes

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of 18 February 2019.

The minutes of the meeting of 18 February 2019 were confirmed and signed.

Members to receive an update on the previous meeting’s Action Plan.

Members were provided with an update on the status of actions raised at previous meetings of the Committee. 

1.     Contact Centre call statistics have yet to be shared and it is anticipated they will be circulated by the end of the week.

2.     Sam Anthony circulated the ARP complaints details to members. Councillor Booth asked for an explanation why the committee had previously been told there were no complaints when the data showed 78 complaints received to February 2019, with 103 received the previous year. Councillor Boden advised the question had originally been interpreted as relating to the number of complaints involving enforcement proceedings, of which there were none, when it was actually the number of general complaints that had been of interest. Councillor Booth commented that he would still expect to see some complaints regarding enforcement as it is a contentious area. He further stated that it would be good governance practice to examine the statistics to see if there are any particular areas of concern. Councillor Boden agreed it would be helpful next year to ask for a greater background to the complaints and feedback from ARP so that any mistakes can be learned from.  

Members to receive a presentation from Clarion.

Attendees from Clarion Housing Group introduced themselves to the Committee before presenting their annual update. 

The presentation included details of partnership working, an overview of community investment in Fenland, including the creation of opportunities and work undertaken to tackle hardship, and an update on housing need and new developments. 

Councillor Boden thanked Clarion for an interesting and comprehensive report.

Councillor Boden advised that Councillor Mrs French had expressed a wish to ask a question at the meeting about Lake Close and, with the permission of the panel, invited her to speak. He added that the question must be general in nature as it would be inappropriate to discuss an individual case or property. Councillor Mrs French thanked Councillor Boden and asked Clarion for a definitive answer as to when the roads and footpaths in Lake Close will be completed as residents have been waiting for three years. Ian Christmas responded, explaining that the circumstances surrounding Lake Close had been relatively unique and he provided a comprehensive overview of the reasons for the delay to completion of the road surface, which are dependent on completion of sub surface drainage. He was pleased to report however that just this morning, Anglian Water has finally given approval to the works. Although he cannot provide a definitive date, Cambridgeshire County Council Highways Authority will conduct their inspection once the drainage works are completed and he hoped that the road work be finished by mid to late summer 2019. Councillor Boden thanked Ian Christmas for his comprehensive answer.

(Councillor Tierney left the meeting). 

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

1.     Councillor Owen asked for more detail concerning development being undertaken by Clarion. Namely, where are they building or intending to build, and how many properties will be built on each site? Fiona Coulson advised that this varies; there is a history in Fenland of building small exception sites of around 12 units but Clarion is looking at working jointly with the local authority and larger developers at bringing forward master planning of big sites across the district. The general focus is on affordable houses rather than flats, and always a mixture of affordable rented homes and shared ownership. They are looking to secure 400 units over the next two to three years, with terms agreed on over 100 units on two sites at Springfield Avenue and Gaul Road. They are also in discussions with landowners and developers at different sites. Councillor Boden stated that members had been told in the presentation that 422 units were in the pipeline on five sites across the district so each one of those are, presumably, quite large. Fiona Coulson agreed that they are looking at some large sites but was not currently in a position to tell the committee where they are, apart from the two sites mentioned which have already been agreed, as this is commercially sensitive.

2.     Councillor Booth recalled that one of Clarion’s policies in a previous development at Parson Drove was  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC45/18

Report to follow.

Members considered the findings of the Economic Development Member-Led Review Group in the form of a draft report.

Councillor Boden thanked the officers for the thorough job they had done in producing the draft report, stating it was unfortunate that due to the tight timescale, there had not been the time for the Review Group to read through for their final comments prior to this meeting.

Members discussed and suggested some of the amendments they would like to see to the draft report before it is finalised. Councillor Boden asked that officers publish the revised version of the report and thanked members of the Economic Development Review Group, together with officers who provided tremendous support and organised the meetings extremely well. There was a limited amount of time to do this work but a large amount of evidence was collated. Councillor Boden added that the way he measures the value and success of the review is the fact that conclusions were drawn that were not expected, which shows that members listened and learned.

Members agreed to accept the report as amended and to refer it to Cabinet. 

To consider the Draft Work Programme for Overview & Scrutiny Panel 2019/20

Councillor Boden felt that as many members present at the meeting will not be members of the Overview & Scrutiny Panel next year, he did not see a requirement to change anything on the Future Work Programme. This would be for the new panel to continue.   

Councillor Boden closed the meeting by thanking the Overview & Scrutiny Panel, stating it has been a pleasure to work with everyone over the last 12 months.