Minutes - Local Economy Overview Group - 4 October 2007

BOROUGH OF POOLE

LOCAL ECONOMY OVERVIEW GROUP

4 OCTOBER 2007

The Meeting commenced at 7:00pm and finished at 9:15pm

Present:

Councillor Mrs Dion (Chairman)

Councillors Adams (substituting for Councillor Collier), Clements, Mrs Hillman (substituting for Councillor Mrs Walton), Mason, Parker, Rampton, MrsStribley, Trent and Wilson (substituting for Councillor Brooke).

Members of the public present: 1

LEO14.07APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brooke, Collier and Mrs Walton.

LEO15.07MINUTES

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 July 2007, having been previously circulated, be taken as read, confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

LEO16.07DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were received.

LEO17.07SUCH OTHER BUSINESS, AS IN THE OPINION, IS OF SUFFICIENT URGENT TO WARRANT CONSIDERATION

There were no urgent items of business.

LEO18.07BUILDING CONTROL ENFORCEMENT PERIODS – CONSULTATION DOCUMENT

The Head of Building Consultancy Services presented a report regarding a recent Government Consultation Document on longer time limits for the possible breaches of Building Regulations. The Government had outlined two options within its Consultation Document which revolved around commencement of legislative changes introduced by the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006. This Act inserted a new section, (Section 35A) into the Building Act 1984, which altered the requirements of the Magistrates’ Court 1980 and the timescales within which the Council was required to take action for breaches of the Building Regulations.

Proposal 1 was the implementation of just the provisions in Section 35A of the Building Act to provide longer time periods for prosecution of breaches of designated provisions of Building Regulations relating to the conservation of fuel and power and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Whilst this would in some part achieve the objective in relation to energy efficiency requirements, it would leave an anomaly that equally serious or flagrant breaches of other provisions of Building Regulations would have to be prosecuted within six months of the completion of the offending work.

Proposal 2 was the implementation of provisions in Section 35A of the Building Act and also extended longer prosecution time limits across Building Regulation provision. This would achieve, respectively, the policy objective and remove the anomaly between the climate change related regulations and the other, equally important, regulatory requirement. As a consequence, it would enable Local Authorities more effectively to pursue non compliance. This approach would mean that the six month time limit would start from when sufficient evidence had been obtained to justify proceedings and minimise the scope for non compliers to escape the consequences of their actions. The new arrangement would however, be subject to an overall two year time limit from commission of the offence, to ensure the proceedings were not launched years after the offences to which they related.

The Government had clearly leaned towards Proposal 2 as it had also indicated two options in relation to the timing of the implementation of the proposals. These included:

(a)implementation of Proposal 1 during Autumn 2007 and then Proposal 2 as soon as there was a legislative opportunity; or

(b)delaying implementation of Proposal 1 until there was a legislative opportunity for Proposal 2 and implement both at the same time.

Members considered the advantages and disadvantages of the proposals and felt that they preferred to support the commencement of the extension of enforcement periods for energy efficiency during the autumn of 2007 and to introduce the extension of enforcement periods for other Building Regulations at the earliest opportunity within 2008.

RECOMMENDED that

(i)the Overview Group notes the contents of this Report and endorses a supportive response; and

(ii)the Portfolio Holder be asked to approve the option of the commencement of the extension of enforcement periods for energy efficiency during Autumn 2007 and to introduce the extension of enforcement periods for other Building Regulations at the earliest opportunity within 2008.

For:Councillors Adams, Clements, Mrs Dion, Mason, Parker, Rampton, Mrs Stribley, Trent and Wilson.

Abstained:Councillor Mrs Hillman

LEO19.07TOWN CENTRE NORTH ARA ACTION PLAN – UPDATE

Mr J Bright, Strategic Director, reported that an Area Action Plan Preferred Options Document had been published in October 2006. The consultation on this document ended 24 November 2006. Since that date, several influential matters had taken place.

(i)Grosvenor Developments, with whom the Council had a Memorandum of Understanding to share technical work to support the expansion of the retail space had withdrawn and had been replaced by another arm of the Grosvenor Empire – Grosvenor Shopping Centre Fund. The Council had not entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with this Company.

(ii)Barclays Bank had indicated that they would vacate Barclays House but had not yet confirmed what they would like to do with the building and these proposals might impact on the proposed vision. A meeting would be held with Barclays shortly when it was hoped to get a clear understanding of their proposal.

(iii)The Town Centre traffic model had been completed and indicated that substantial de=trafficking of Kingland Road was not possible unless car parking arrangements for the Town were altered. This aspect of the Scheme was crucial in terms of

the revised Bus Depot
creating a new public realm
improved connectivity between the Lighthouse and the Shopping Centre
raising the quality of the shopping environment

Mr Bright, Strategic Director, stated that Officers involved in this work were the same Officers as currently working on the Twin Sails Project and the Regeneration Project. Priority had been given to support delivery of the Twin Sails Scheme and the response to the Planning Application on the former Power Station site.

This meant that the following would take place:

a range of highway and car parking options were being tested and this work would be complete in about two months;

when this work was completed a refreshed vision for this part of the town would be produced in similar form to that of the Power Station site;

accompanying the Vision would be a provisional list of deliverables at which time Members would be asked to agree the Vision and prioritise the deliverables;

this work would then be subject to a viability analysis and further technical work to establish deliverability;

there might then be a further cycle of updating the Vision and deliverables. A view would then need to be taken as to what stage of the Area Action Plan process the planning work would need to continue from;

key partners – Grosvenor, Wilts & Dorset/Barclays/Sainsbury’s/Lighthouse would be kept informed throughout this process.

The option of entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with Grosvenor Shopping Fund would be brought before Members when sufficient work in re-evaluating options had taken place.

Members raised the following:

it was of great concern that Grosvenor Developments had withdrawn their support to develop plans for retail expansion. Cabinet had previously advised that other Partners should be sought in order to achieve the Council’s aspirations in this area.

Mr Bright, Strategic Director, responded by stating that some evaluative work was being undertaken to see if involving another Partner was viable. This information would be available shortly.

It was disappointing that Grosvenor Development Fund had delayed their support for the Bus Station. The Bus Station was in a totally unacceptable condition as the gateway to Poole.

Mr Bright, Strategic Director, stated that he was disappointed at Grosvenor’s delay but the delivery of the interim improvements was being taken forward and Alex Carter of Wilts & Dorset Bus Company had indicated that work on improvements to the Bus Station could start in early January 2008.

The condition of the bus station was deplorable and that day to day management of the site was urgently required, such things as cleaning and litter, and joined up thinking on a daily basis between Service Units was necessary.

The way forward in respect of Town Centre North had previously been agreed as a priority and it was disappointing that this could not be achieved, on the timetable originally envisaged.

Mr Bright, Strategic Director, stated that the Vision for Town Centre North document had already highlighted the issues of de-trafficking and car parking and these issues were not new.

Instead of de-trafficking the option of building across from the Dolphin Centre to The Lighthouse at a high level should be considered.

Members felt that it was essential for these aspects to be considered in greater detail by the Town Centre Bridge Advisory Group.

RESOLVED that the update Report be noted and that a report be submitted to a meeting of the Town Centre Bridge Advisory Group at which all Members of the Council be invited to attend to consider a review of the Vision and Deliverables in respect of the Town Centre North Project.

For: Unanimous.

LEO20.07TIMETABLE FOR SUBMISSION OF POOLE’S CORE STRATEGY

The Head of Strategic Planning Services updated Members on the timetable for the submission of Poole’s Core Strategy. Members were asked if they wished to raise any issues that they had arising from the Seminars held on 30 August and 13 September 2007.

The Meeting was advised that consultation on Poole Core Strategy preferred options had taken place between 11 April 2007 and 23 May 2007. The submission document had been programmed to be submitted to the Secretary of State on 30 November 2007 but due to the need to undertake further evidence gathering and to ensure that the evidence base for the Core Strategy was suitably robust, it was now proposed to submit the Core Strategy in January 2008, a delay of approximately eight weeks. A special meeting of the Local Economy Overview Group would be held and reporting to Cabinet and Council in December 2007.

The Head of Strategic Planning Services stated that the two Seminars had provided the opportunity to share key issues emerging from work on the Core Strategy and to gain an appreciation of the Member perspective on these. The two Seminars had been well attended, the first focussing on Housing and the key elements of affordability, sustainability of new buildings, the type of new homes and existing character of Poole. The second Seminar had focussed on the economy, Poole Central Area, climate change and the environment, recreational need and a framework for delivering sustainability community. His Report detailed the key messages which had emerged from the Seminars.

Furthermore, a short Powerpoint presentation was given to the meeting on the present status of the LDF Core Strategy.

It was emphasised that these themes would be developed over the coming weeks and Members would be advised of the detailed Strategy in due course.

Members raised the following issues:

Access to the Port and A35 was essential and this link must be safeguarded before development took place;

Concerns at the off-site provision of affordable housing;

The employment definition needed to be modernised and there was a need for strong policies to be in place to deal with planning applications;

Consideration needed to be given to linking Heathland with Open Space;

Open space had to be managed and the Heathland Policy needed to identify more use and protections;

Concerns that some aspects of the Heathland Policy needed to be considered further in respect of development taking place within the ‘envelope’ of protection;

Policies needed to be as strong as possible but sometimes there was a need to be flexible in such cases as the recent application for a Renal Unit at Mannings Heath which had been approved for the benefit of the Community;

Retail use was creeping into wholesale/industrial sites;

There was a need to have clear policies to be able to resist inappropriate developments;

Heathland mapping divided Communities and this needed to be considered further.

RESOLVED that the revised timetable for the submission of Poole’s Core Strategy be noted and that a special meeting of the Local Economy Overview Group be held to consider this matter further.

For: Unanimous

LEO21.07PLANNING IMPLICATIONS OF THE HOUSING GREEN PAPER

The Head of Strategic Planning Services presented a Report on the planning implications of the Housing Green Paper, Homes for the Future: More Affordable, More Sustainable, published in July 2007. The Housing Green Paper sought views on the Government’s proposals to increase the supply of housing, to provide well-designed and greener homes but were supported by infrastructure, and to provide more affordable homes to buy or rent. Consultation on the Green Paper closed on 15 October 2007.

A short Powerpoint presentation was made highlighting the Government’s vision – that everyone had access to a decent home, at a price they could afford, in a place they wanted to live and work. The challenge was:-

demand was growing faster than supply;
house prices had grown faster than wages;
it was difficult for young people to get on to the housing ladder;
climate change meant the need to provide greener, better designed housing.

Members considered the various planning implications in the Housing Green Paper, particularly the issues surrounding more homes and better homes.

Members were asked to submit any individual views on the Housing Green Paper as soon as possible so that these could be incorporated in the response to Government.

Members highlighted the following issues:

garden space/green space must be provided and that criteria needed to be devised with regard to garden space relationships with buildings;
money for infrastructure must be provided;
fixed developments needed to be encouraged;
on affordable housing contributions people should be given a choice of where they lived and the possibility of grants to give greater choice;

The Head of Strategic Planning Services stated that Key Workers were currently able to apply for grants. He drew attention to a new bid of £19million which had been submitted recently in support of the Borough’s Growth Point status.

Recommended that this Group endorses the planning implications of the Housing Green Paper as set out in the Report by the Head of Strategic Planning Services.

For: Unanimous

LEO22.07DEVELOPER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR TRANSPORT –INTERIM PLANNING FRAMEWORK

The Chairman reported that this Item had originally been for information only but it was understood that concerns had been raised at a recent meeting of Cabinet and it was felt that this matter should be considered at this meeting.

The Head of Transportation Services reported that Poole had had an ad-hoc scheme for transport contributions since 2004 and, to make it more resistant to legal challenge, it had been decided that a formal six week consultation on a revised scheme was undertaken between July and August 2007. He drew attention to a representation which had been made by the Planning Bureau Limited/McCarthy & Stone calling for reduced contributions in respect of sheltered housing sites. It had been proposed by Officers that a 25% reduction could be agreed.

He drew attention to the fact that, to date, £750,000 had been received and the new Scheme would bring in approximately £1.25 million each year. The reduction in the concession for sheltered homes would reduce this amount by between £5,000 and £10,000 in a year. If the discount was not agreed this could encourage a legal challenge to the scheme. He also drew attention to the fact that a new South-East Dorset Scheme would be introduced in early 2008 which would have the benefit of the results of trip making and parking research so that the Scheme currently being considered was a preliminary one.

A Member felt strongly that the 25% discount for Sheltered Housing Site was not justifiable. This type of development had much reduced parking provision, so residents, as a consequence, would need improved transport facilities including bus shelters and seats and therefore there was a need to introduce transport initiatives to assist them. The £5,000, £10,000 would pay for these items. There was no justification for a discount.

Other Members raised the following issues:-

Affordability was the key issue;

this was all about mitigation and these developments created a burden on the infrastructure. No information was available on the impact/evidence base.

The Head of Strategic Planning Services responded to some of the points raised by stating the key question related to the need to assess the reduced impact that might warrant a reduction in contributions for sheltered housing sites? This information should be made known to Council when it was asked to make a decision on this issue. He felt that it was essential to liaise with Bournemouth Borough Council on this aspect and for Members to also take into account details of the evidence base. The Head of Transportation Services agreed to provide this information.

RECOMMENDED that Council be advised of the concerns of this Overview Group on the proposed reduced contributions towards Transport Investment in respect of Sheltered Housing sites.