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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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Meeting |
Corporate Services, Climate Change and Scrutiny Management Committee |
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Date |
29 January 2024 |
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Present |
Councillors Fenton (Chair), Merrett (Vice-Chair), Ayre, Baxter, J Burton, Healey, Kelly, Rowley, Steels-Walshaw, K Taylor, Waller, Wells (Substitute for Cllr Myers) and Orrell (Substitute for Cllr Widdowson) |
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Apologies
Officers Present |
Councillors Myers and Widdowson
James Gilchrist, Director of Environment, Transport and Planning Becky Eades, Head of Planning and Development Services Ben Grabham, Head of Environmental Services Dave Meigh, Operations Manager, Public Realm Paul Ramskill, Community Sports Development Manager Mark Baldry, Development Projects Senior Officer Roy Grant, Head of ICT Vicky Japes, Head of Housing Strategy Sandi Annals, Business Manager, Be Independent Lindsay Tomlinson, Head of Democratic Governance and Deputy Monitoring Officer |
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29. Declarations of Interest (5.33 pm)
Members were asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on the agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests.
In relation to Item 4, Section 106 Agreements and Community Infrastructure Levies, Cllr Waller noted for transparency reasons, that he was a school governor at York High School.
30. Minutes (5.36 pm)
Resolved: That the minutes of the last meeting held on 11 December 2023 were approved as a correct record.
31. Public Participation (5.38 pm)
It was reported that there had been two registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
Flick Williams, a resident, joined via Zoom and spoke regarding the Committee’s climate change remit. She described the co-production work that had taken place to develop the council’s implementation of the Social Model of Disability and then raised concerns regarding the decision taken at by the Executive Member for Finance, Performance, Major Projects and Equalities at her recent decision session, to remove the term ‘eco ableism’ from the report. Ms Williams stated that the term was well recognised, used by organisations such as Friends of the Earth and that to remove it was to undermine the efforts of disabled contributors.
Gwen Swinburn, a resident, spoke in person regarding governance matters and Item 4 (Section 106 agreements and Community Infrastructure Levies). She asked for a review of report protocols and a citywide governance review.
32. Section 106 Agreements and Community Infrastructure Levies (5.45 pm)
The Director of Environment, Transport and Planning, together with the Head of Planning and Development, introduced the report and noted that the focus of the report was on public open space. They explained that the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) was available everywhere, although the process was different for parished and unparished wards.
Officers and the Executive Member for Housing, Planning and Safer Communities responded to questions from Members which covered the gap between the evidence base and the reality within the ward, highways sustainability measures, when and how ward councillors should make representations prior to a s106 agreement, the system used to identify relevant sports within wards/parishes, trigger points for interim payments, the risk of developments stalling due to staged payments, variations to s106 agreements due to a change in developer circumstances, monitoring of travel plans, the process and implementation of CIL and citywide sports facilities.
[6.16 to 6.18 pm, Cllr Rowley left the meeting. 6.29 – 6.35 pm, Cllr Baxter left the meeting]
The following was reported:
· There was a statutory consultation period for s106 agreements, this was an officer led process based on technical evidence provided by service areas within CYC and partners such as the NHS.
· Monies can be used to improve existing facilities; a new system was being implemented to identify trigger and collection points for payments. There had been no repayments made from CYC development contributions in the last financial year.
· CILs offered greater flexibility than s106 agreements, as they can define types of infrastructure and cover citywide projects. The framework for allocating funding to unparished wards was under development as part of the local plan process.
[6.55 pm, Cllr Healey left the meeting. 7.02, Cllr Baxter left the meeting. 7.01 – 7.04 pm, Cllr Waller left the meeting.]
Consideration was given by members to a task and finish group to examine the outcome of s106 and CIL contributions.
Resolved:
i. That the content of the report was noted.
ii. That a task and finish group be considered as part of the work plan item.
Reason: To ensure that the Section 106 process is robust and in line with planning policy requirements.
[7.08-7.10 pm Cllr Ayre left the meeting, 7.10-7.15, Cllr Wells left the meeting. 7.13-7.18 pm, the meeting was adjourned.]
33. Workforce Development Plan and Attendance Management (5.34 pm)
The officer responsible for the report was unexpectedly unable to attend the meeting. It was therefore
Resolved:
i. That the item be deferred.
ii. Members should send any comments or questions to the Democracy Officer to collate and forward to the Head of Human Resources.
Reason: To ensure that the item is fully considered at a later date.
34. Digital Switch Over 2025 Information Report (7.18 pm)
The Head of ICT introduced the report noting that they were in the early stages of discovery and were working towards the point when they would receive a work programme from the digital providers.
Members asked a range of questions covering communication with those residents specifically affected, unsolicited calls and online safety, assistance for council tenants, the funding of communications by service providers, the financial costs of digital to residents and those missing residents not identified by the usual methods.
[7.29-7.31 pm, Cllr Rowley left the meeting.]
Officers reported that:
· All Be Independent’s clients had been sent a letter. It was agreed to share the letter with members and officers.
· A communications plan was being prepared and would cover all the main methods of communication. Letters would be considered as part of that process. Preferred providers could be signposted by the council.
· The change was being managed by the council housing team for council tenants, with passenger lifts and fire alarms also affected by the switchover. Emails, hard copies and the housing newsletter had and would provide information on the switchover.
· There was no additional cost to the service from BT; other providers costs were not yet known.
· Officers were working on identifying those residents that had currently not been identified during the switchover process.
Resolved: That the committee receive further updates as the switchover deadline progresses.
Reason: To keep the committee updated.
[7.51 pm, Cllr Orrell left the meeting.]
35. Work Plan (7.40 pm)
Members considered the Scrutiny work plan for the four scrutiny committees.
Resolved:
i. That the work plan be noted.
ii. That a further joint meeting with the Audit and Governance Committee be set up to consider the remaining sections of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Constitution.
iii. That a proposal for a task and finish group on s106 agreements be brought to the next meeting, under the work plan item.
iv. That a proposal for a task and finish group on council communications be brought to the next meeting, under the work plan item.
Reason: To ensure an overview of the scrutiny work programme.
Cllr S Fenton, Chair
[The meeting started at 5.31 pm and finished at 7.58 pm].