Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meetings held 13 March and 23 March 2026. 

The minutes of the meetings held 13 March 2026 and 23 March 2026 were approved and signed.   

This report seeks approval for a new governance and delegation pathway to support the preparation of the "Fenland 50" Local Plan (2025–2050).

Members considered the Local Plan Engagement and Governance report presented by Councillor Boden on behalf of Councillor Mrs Laws.

Proposed by Councillor Boden, seconded by Councillor Mrs French and AGREED to:

a)    Note the progress made in commencing the “Fenland 50” Local Plan under the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026 (the “2026 Regulations”), following the publication of the Notice of Intention to Commence (Regulation 19).

b)   Revoke the existing Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) and replace it with a new Local Plan Engagement Strategy and Neighbourhood Planning Protocol. This ensures compliance with the new digital-first participation standards required by the 2026 Regulations and wider national planning reforms.

c)    Delegate authority to the Head of Planning, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, to maintain and publish the Local Plan Timetable in accordance with Regulation 8 of the 2026 Regulations.

d)   Delegate authority to the Head of Planning, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, to approve the consultation materials and launch the Statutory Scoping Consultation in May 2026, as required by Regulation 20 of the 2026 Regulations.

e)    Delegate authority to the Head of Planning in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, to approve and submit all documents required for each Gateway stage, including the Gateway 1 Self-Assessment of Readiness (Regulation 21), responses to official Gateway advice, and any technical data packages needed to progress the 30-month timeline.

f)     Agree the approval route for the mandatory consultation stages:

·         Consultation on Proposed Local Plan Content and Evidence (Regulation 23): Initial proposals (6 weeks) to be approved by Cabinet.

·         Consultation on the Proposed Local Plan (Regulation 27): The Publication Draft Plan (8 weeks) to be approved by Full Council.

g)   Agree that a Member Seminar will be held following each statutory Gateway stage (Regulations 21, 26 and 31) to ensure Members are briefed on the observations and advice received from the appointed person (the Inspector) and the requirements for the subsequent preparation phase.

To provide members with updated implementation and operational running costs for Civil Parking Enforcement along with an updated timeline.

Members considered the Implementation of On and Off-Street Parking Enforcement in Fenland report presented by Councillor Mrs French.

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

·         Councillor Tierney said this should have happened years ago but had not because Cambridgeshire County Council clearly did not want it to. He found it extraordinary that they would let signs and lines reach an illegal state and then refuse to spend money to rectify them. There should be no need to request that the work be done because it should already have been done. That said, if local government reform goes ahead, he suspects the new unitary authority will introduce paid parking everywhere and so he wondered whether it was worth spending a huge amount of money to progress a scheme when a new unitary council would do so and likely in a much more comprehensive and invasive way than had been proposed. He added that he did not feel strongly either way about the report because he considered the situation to be a shocking let down and clearly not the fault of Fenland District Council and wanted those points on the record.

·         Councillor Christy said he wanted to recognise the significant amount of work that had gone into civil parking enforcement and the feasibility work and recent modelling, which showed how complex the matter really was. He echoed some of Councillor Tierney’s points and noted that since 2008 the modelling had specifically focused on keeping Council car parks free, with enforcement only for overstaying. This reflected a long-standing position and how important free car parking had been for the economic growth of Fenland’s town centres. The report said there was no obvious positive business case for civil parking enforcement unless car parking charging was introduced and so he wondered if officers could continue to develop options that did not rely on introducing off-street parking charges, so that accessibility and the high streets were protected. He also asked whether the modelling could fully consider displacement risks, because introducing charges could push vehicles into surrounding residential streets and create new pressures for those communities. Councillor Christy added that he would welcome further work which brought forward a sustainable model for civil parking enforcement, but these were important considerations.

·         Councillor Tierney said that he was frustrated with comments officers sometimes made, such as there was no business case without paid parking. He felt this was absolute nonsense and there was a business case because the scheme could be paid for out of general taxation. There was always another way, and lots of things the Council could think about and do, so there was not only one option, and officers should not state that there was.

·         Councillor Mrs French said she would never accept car parking charges and had fought against paid parking since 1993 when first proposed. It had been agreed that off-street parking charges would never be introduced unless the Council was forced to do so by government. She still stood by  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAB70/25

This report seeks approval to accept £2m funding and delegate authority to the Section 151 and Monitoring Officers to enter into all necessary legal and financial arrangements to secure and manage the funding, subject to the project going ahead.

Members considered the report concerning Acceptance of a Sport England Grant to support the redevelopment of the Manor Leisure Centre presented by Councillor Count.

Proposed by Councillor Count, seconded by Councillor Boden and AGREED to:

1.    Approve the acceptance of the £2,000,000 Place Capital grant allocation from Sport England.

2.    Delegate authority to the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer to enter all relevant legal and financial arrangements necessary to bring this decision into effect and manage the funding in accordance with grant conditions.

3.    Note that any drawdown of this grant will be subject to construction commencing on the Manor Leisure Centre redevelopment project. A paper is expected before Cabinet in July 2026 where Cabinet will consider the Manor redevelopment project and decide whether to construct the new facility.

To provide Cabinet with a monthly update regarding the ongoing construction work at 24 High Street, Wisbech and the pre-construction design and planning work for 11-12 High Street, Wisbech.

Members considered the Wisbech High Street update report presented by Councillor Seaton.

·         Councillor Imafidon asked whether the entire build was due for delivery in summer 2027, as it was very ambitious if so. Councillor Seaton responded this was the information he had been given.

·         Councillor Boden said FDC had a history of being ambitious, but the difficulty was turning ambition into reality.

·         Councillor Hoy said if 30 years was ambitious, then she was not sure FDC was ambitious enough. However, she was pleased to hear it was nearing completion and it was clear that the Council was fully committed to the project.

Members AGREED to note the report.

For information purposes.

Noted for information.

This report covers why a switch in contractual arrangements is possible and the benefits of such a change.

(This item comprises EXEMPT INFORMATION within Appendices D and E  which is not for publication by virtue of paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).)

Members considered the Change in Freedom Leisure contractual arrangements to an Agency approach report presented by Councillor Boden.

·         Councillor Christy said he fully supports anything that helps deliver best value for the taxpayer, and this is one of those arrangements.

·         Councillor Count asked if there was any chance that the Council could claim a refund on VAT paid previously. Councillor Boden said unfortunately legal advice had confirmed the answer to be no, but he was pleased to see Councillor Count asking the same question.

·         Councillor Hoy said as the contract signed with Freedom Leisure ends on a given date she wondered if the agency agreement would change this. Councillor Boden responded that there is no proposal to change the date of completion of the agreement between FDC and Freedom Leisure.

Proposed by Councillor Boden, seconded by Councillor Mrs French and AGREED to:

·         Note the report and the financial benefits of switching to an Agency Agreement with Freedom Leisure.

·         Delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, to vary the Leisure Management Contract between the Council and Freedom Leisure in order that Freedom will run the leisure centres as an agent rather than a principal for the remainder of the contract.

·         Authorise the Monitoring Officer to execute and complete all requisite legal documentation in relation to the matters outlined above.

To approve the confidential minutes of the meeting held 23 March 2026.

The confidential minutes of the meeting held 23 March 2026 were agreed and signed. 

(Councillors Boden and Seaton abstained from voting approval of the minutes due to having to leave the room for some of the discussion during the confidential item).