Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Mrs Hall and Councillor Taylor, with the substitution of Councillor Mayne for Councillor Mrs Hall authorised in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2014.

On the motion of Councillor Nichols, seconded by Councillor Morrell, it was

RESOLVED – the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2014 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

To receive verbally from members any disclosures which they are required to make in accordance with the Council's code of conduct or in pursuance of Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.  This is in addition to the need for such disclosure to be also given when the relevant matter is reached on the agenda.

No interests were declared at this stage.

Representatives of the Developer Consortium for the Earl Shilton SUE will be in attendance to present their proposals.

Representatives of AMEC, Barwood and Jelson were present at the meeting to provide an update on plans for the Earl Shilton SUE. During their presentation, reference was made to:

• The need for a ‘legible’ well signposted and branded town centre in Earl Shilton;
• The specification for affordable home provision with no flats;
• The need for a range of residential properties to meet local need;
• The preference of the healthcare providers to extend the existing surgery rather than create additional provision;
• The creation of many jobs during the construction phase;
• The intention to provide informal open space to a level exceeding the Council’s requirement and, with regard to formal open space, to negotiate with the Town Council to fund the existing provision;
• The submitting of a design and access statement with the scheme and conditions attached to the application in order to ensure quality;
• The siting of the employment area exiting onto Clickers Way;
• The main access points being Mill Lane and Astley Road.

With regard to the section 106 agreement, the consortium agreed to finalise a list of contributions prior to bringing the application before the Planning Committee and this would also include details on the phasing and delivery of various components of the development.

Concern was expressed that as Persimmon would be commencing their part of the development first and would have immediate access via Mill Lane they may be selective about the work required and the legal agreements may not apply to them. In response it was confirmed that the Section 106 agreement would be binding on the land and all developers and that early completion would trigger the relevant section 106 agreements and occupancy restrictions. It was also stated that other parts of the development would be delivered early too.

With regard to affordable housing, the Consortium was still discussing whether all of it would be provided on site, or if they would provide a proportion in the form of commuted sums.

It was acknowledged that during the presentation reference had been made to the creation of construction jobs, but a member expressed concern that existing contractors would be used for this and they would bring existing employees in rather than employing locally, thereby creating local jobs. In response the representative from Jelson’s explained that they had a huge employment base and provided most services in-house from the Leicester office rather than via contractors. Therefore, the majority of employees were based in Leicestershire and many were from Hinckley & Bosworth. He also reported that they had an annual intake of apprentices.

A member asked how much of the contribution towards regeneration would be spent locally and whether any funding in addition to the Section 106 monies would be coming directly from the developers.

In response to a question about engaging with the Town Council, one of the representatives reported that there was regular contact with the Clerk to the Council and meetings with the Town Council and other local stakeholders.

Concern was expressed regarding volumes of traffic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 539.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Direction) attached.

If members have any questions they wish to ask on this item or the information in the papers, could they please send them via email to Sanjiv Kohli or Katherine Plummer by 4pm on Tuesday, 13 May, to enable an answer to be provided at the meeting.

Sanjiv Kohli and Katherine Plummer gave a summary version of the presentation on “Piecing together the Regeneration Jigsaw” that had been presented to the MJ awards Panel as the Council’s short listed entry for the Innovation in Finance category. This set out the achievements of the Council since 2006 in putting together a strong performance management and financial structure that had enabled the Council to deliver, by 2015/16, over £200m of regeneration with restricted internal funds at a return on investment of around 10%. This had been achieved by Officers and elected Members changing their risk attitudes. This formed the background to the Medium Term Financial Strategy. In presenting the report on the Medium Term Financial Strategy, reference was made to the financial constraints due to council tax freezes, projects completed, in progress and planned, and the state of the economy nationally.

Councillor Inman left the meeting at 9pm.

Concern was expressed regarding the impact of the government cuts on parish councils, for example New Homes Bonus and council tax support grants. Parish councils were also being asked to provide funding to keep their libraries open.

Councillor Mayne left the meeting at 9.20pm.

Having reached 9.30pm, it was moved by Councillor Nichols, seconded by Councillor Morrell and

RESOLVED – the meeting be permitted to continue to complete the business listed on the agenda.

Members discussed the discretionary services provided by the authority and were informed that cutting these services would not create a large saving due to the level of central costs and these were also the services that the public generally felt were most important.