Minutes:
No questions had been submitted under Procedure Rule 8.6 and Councillor Booth, as leader of the main opposition group, asked questions under Procedure Rule 8.4, as follows:
· could the Leader provide an update on the skills and apprenticeship budget of the Combined Authority and advise how this is benefitting Fenland? The Leader replied that the Combined Authority has been asked to provide the information requested, unfortunately that has not yet been received and asked if it would be acceptable to send Councillor Booth a written answer as soon as possible. Councillor Booth stated that would be acceptable and he felt other members would also be interested in this. The Leader advised he will make sure members are informed.
· could the Leader confirm if the Combined Authority is investing in affordable housing projects in Fenland and if so when will this take place? The Leader responded as follows:
“The Combined Authority has invested £150,000 in an affordable housing scheme in Whittlesey which through that and other funding sources will deliver 37 affordable homes.
Officers have also been liaising with the Combined Authority on an exploratory pipeline on a further 6 sites for a further 244 funded affordable homes. As with all development negotiations schemes will fall out and other schemes will come in which is why officers have been tracking over 100 potential sites in the last 12 months where there is planning permission or there are applications for planning being considered. As part of this the Council have been engaging with active Registered Providers in the patch to see what can be negotiated including purchasing the whole site to develop all tenures on it.
The Combined Authority and the Council recognise that viability issues are greater here than in other areas of the Combined Authority area therefore over the summer a meeting was held with Registered Providers, the Council and the Combined Authority to explore how best to work together in developing an affordable housing programme in the future both for Homes England and Combined Authority consideration.
Overall there is a programme of 158affordable homes to be delivered by end of 2019/20 mainly through Registered Provider and Homes England financing. As well as this there is a further 3 sites controlled by Registered Providers which will deliver a further 189 affordable homes with completion dates to be determined.”
Councillor Booth thanked the Leader for the update.
· can the Leader give an update on the review of local government structure in Cambridgeshire being undertaken by the Combined Authority? The Leader thanked Councillor Booth for the question and confirmed he would provide a hard copy of the answer. The Combined Authority continue to work with their appointed consultants, ResPublica, to develop public service reform proposals, which at this time are specifically focussed upon future sustainability and social care and health. The details of these proposals have yet to be established and will be shared with the leaders and their constituent councils once they become available. To the best of his knowledge there are currently no CPCA proposals to review the structure of local government in Cambridgeshire. Councillor Booth stated that he did find the last comment a little surprising given Mayor Palmer has been on the radio mentioning the need to look at the structure of local government saying that there are too many tiers, which Councillor Booth had raised before particularly when this Council agreed to the Combined Authority. Can we give commitments to aiding those reviews because it is something that electors are keenly aware of and they feel there is too much bureaucracy in this county? The Leader reiterated that, to the best of his knowledge, there are presently no proposals to review the structure of local government in Cambridgeshire.
· in relation to the recent parish council conference that the Leader attended, when he gave a commitment that parish councils would be informed when pre-planning applications were received within their area and that information be passed onto the parishes, he asked when is that going to be delivered? The Leader commented that there is already an avenue to do that whereby parish council clerks can take availability of the website to view what is in the pipeline, what is delayed etc. As a lot of clerks have not signed up, a further reminder has been sent out to parish councillors to remind them that both clerks and members can sign up and have this information, which is already out there but it is not being used at the moment. Councillor Booth commented that he understood that the pre-planning application process was outside the statutory planning notifications sent out, so does not think this is possible under the scheme talked about. The problem with signing up is that notifications are received about everything and the system cannot be tailored for the relevant information only so this may have put people off.