The Assistant Chief Executive (Customer Access
and Performance) submitted a report summarising the quarter 4
performance data relevant to the Scrutiny Board for 2011/12.
Appended to the report were copies of the
following documents for the information/comment of the
meeting:-
·
Appendix 1a – Performance Reports for the 3
City Priority Plan
·
Appendix 1b – Directorate Priorities and Indicators
·
Appendix 2 – Proposed changes to the Council Business
Plan
The following representatives were in
attendance and responded to Members’ queries and
comments:-
-
Martin Farrington, Director of City Development (also representing
the
Director of Environment
and Neighbourhoods)
- Phil Crabtree, Chief Planning Officer,
City Development
-
Ms Liz Cook, Chief Officer, Statutory Housing, Environment and
Neighbourhoods Directorate
-
Paul Maney, Head of Strategic Planning, Policy and Performance,
City Development
The Board noted that Councillor P Gruen,
Executive Board Member and Neil Evens, Director of Environment and
Neighbourhoods had conveyed their apologies for this item.
The Chair invited comments from Board Members
on the performance data contained in the report and appendices.
Discussions also ensued on a number of general
issues relating to the remit and role of the new Housing and
Regeneration Scrutiny Board.
The Director of City Development referred
specifically to three issues. The first being his wish to review
the performance indicator on how the Council monitors, develops and
protects the green character of the city. This was currently
measured by the number of parks that had green flag status. This
does not relate in any way to promoting brown field sites for
housing development. The Directors would like to bring forward a
new indicator that was about the percentage of new housing that
takes place on brown field sites as opposed to green field sites.
The Director also referred to and highlighted the reasons for the
missed targets in relation to the number of houses enhanced by
energy efficiency measures and the delivery of large planning
applications.
In summary, specific reference was made to the
following issues:-
- Accreditation system
for our parks and the need for a separate performance indicator on
the percentage of new housing that takes place on brownfield sites. Reference was made during these
discussions to the Red Hall playing fields
- Clarification if
Section 106 monies stay in the ward where developments take
place
(The Director of
City Development responded and confirmed that Section 106
agreements were levied on the specific planning application and
therefore this income was spent locally)
- Reference was made to
the number of empty properties in the city. The Chair responded and
congratulated the Environment and Neighbourhood directorate for
reducing the number of void Council houses to around 1% of the
total stock available. The problem now related specifically to the
number of private properties which were empty and reference was
made to the report of the Scrutiny Board (Safer and Stronger
Communities) which was published in April 2012 on this matter and
to the work currently being undertaken to bring more private empty
properties back in to use. It was agreed that the Board’s
Principal Scrutiny Adviser circulate a copy of this report to all
Members of the Board for their information
- The view that there
were a number of Council houses which were designated as offices
and that these ought to be brought back in to the housing stock
wherever possible
- Clarification as to
the definition of Protected Areas of Search (PAS) It was
explained for the benefit of new Members that certain land on the
periphery of urban areas which were not allocated for development
in the Plan but which were not considered appropriate either for
inclusion in the Green Belt. These areas were designated 'Protected
Areas of Search”. They acted as areas
to help protect green belt from development by being contingency
areas to be considered for potential development. Reference was
made to the need for planning officers to address the
inspectors concerns at recent inquiries in relation to the
conditions for PAS sites that sustainability appraisals had not
been undertaken
(The Chief Planning Officer responded and confirmed that a
sustainability appraisal would be undertaken on all PAS sites
before including them in the Council’s Core Strategy site
allocation processes)
- Reference to the
success of ‘Wrap up Leeds’ (home insulation
scheme)
- Clarification was
sought on what independent assessments were undertaken on the 5
year land supply and suitability of specific sites (The
Chief Planning Officer explained that the government guidance that
had to be met was that the housing land must be available, suitable
and achievable for development. It was this third condition that
was preventing a number of brownfield
sites in the current climate from being developed. The first two
conditions may be met but the third was determined by a consortium
of a variety of people from the development industry. The Chief
Planning Officer agreed to circulate details of this consortium to
the Board)
- Concern was expressed
that some staff in the planning enquiry team answering calls from
the public were not even aware of major planning applications being
brought forward and were therefore unable to provide even the basic
information
(The Chief Planning
Officer responded and explained his expectations on this issue and
who should be able to respond)
- Concern that Ward
Members were not being consulted regarding Section 106 agreements
and Wetherby Ward and the North East
quadrant of the city were given as examples. The Chair asked the
Chief Planning Officer to submit a report on this issue to the
Board’s next meeting in July 2012.The Chief Planning Officer
also agreed to check on and report back to the Board as to whether
the Council could require rather than encourage developers to
submit their Section106 agreement with their planning application.
It was noted that Draft Heads of Terms had been submitted as part
of the applications and formed part of the pre-application
presentation to the East Plans Panel
- Concern that issues
raised by the former (Regeneration) Scrutiny Board on
27th March 2012 under the Quarter 3 performance report
had not been reported back and the Board’s Principal Scrutiny
Adviser agreed to confirm the position and report back any
outstanding issues to this Board in July 2012
- The need for a
protocol /guidance note to be developed quickly which sets out the
expectations of the Council on developers consulting with Ward
Members, the community, Parish Councils and Neighbourhood Forums at
an early stage in the planning process
RESOLVED –
a)
That the contents of the report and appendices be noted.
b)
That this Board notes the quarter 4 performance information and
the
issues which had been
highlighted.
(Councillor M Iqbal
joined the meeting at 10.55am during discussions of the above
item)