Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

Members were asked to declare any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, any prejudicial interests or any disclosable pecuniary interests which they might have in respect of business on the agenda. None were declared.

It is at this point in the meeting that members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. The deadline for registering is 5.00pm on Friday 18 November 2016. Members of the public can speak on agenda items or matters within the remit of the committee.

To register to speak please contact the Democracy Officer responsible for the meeting, on the details at the foot of the agenda.

Filming, Recording or Webcasting Meetings

Please note this meeting may be filmed and webcast or audio recorded and that includes any registered public speakers, who have given their permission.  The broadcast can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts or, if sound recorded, this will be uploaded onto the Council’s website following the meeting.

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officer (contact details at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/11406/protocol_for_webcasting_filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings_20160809.pdf

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.  

This report presents the reasons the above item has been called-in for pre-decision scrutiny, ahead of consideration by the Executive at their meeting on 24 November 2016. The report also outlines the options available to this committee under the agreed pre-decision call in arrangements.

Members received a report which set out the reasons for the call-in and the role of the Committee, together with the options available to it under the agreed pre-decision call-in arrangements.

In accordance with those arrangements, three Members (Councillors Cannon, Crisp and Derbyshire) had called in the above item from the Forward Plan for the following reasons:

·        To provide input on the consultation before its format and content is agreed;

·        To understand the extent and scope of the consultation to ensure it properly engages all Holgate ward residents; and

·        To gain assurance that all possible access options are being treated and considered equally within the consultation.

At the outset, the Chair reminded Members of the process for pre-decision scrutiny. He highlighted that this meeting had been delayed and, that whilst the reasons for this were understood by Members, he hoped this would not happen again and reminded Officers that they did not need to submit final reports scheduled to be considered by the Executive, as the purpose of pre-decision was to enable Scrutiny involvement at the earliest stage possible.

Councillor Cannon spoke on behalf of the calling-in Members explaining their concerns in relation to:

·        consultation and engagement with residents.

·        technical information about the project being made publicly available.

·        an option being chosen for access which faced heavy opposition and, as a result, could potentially cause problems in the future.

·        decision making on this issue being based on a wide range of factors such as amenity, loss of green space, air quality and social issues, as well as economic ones.

·        clarification on which railway lines might need removing.

The Executive Member for Economic Development and Community Engagement (Deputy Leader) spoke in response to the points made by call-in members. In response to the Chair, he clarified why he was attending the meeting as the relevant Executive Member. Namely, because the focus of this particular  call in appeared to relate to processes for full and proper community engagement and consultation, responsibility for which came within his portfolio.  He then went on to add that significant progress had been made now with the Local Plan and that he appreciated the importance of working with and engaging residents throughout this project, acknowledging specifically concerns of local residents relating to potential access routes.

The Executive Member then responded to various questions from the Committee and confirmed his support for technical information being transparent and publicly available, as well as support being made available for Holgate Ward Councillors through their Ward Forums, where considerable time was rightfully currently being dedicated to addressing resident concerns around this issue.

Officers were then invited to address the Committee and responded to various questions confirming that early engagement would be an integral part of the planning process. The Corporate Director of Economy & Place emphasised the importance to the Local Plan of creating an access route for York Central.  Showing such a commitment to the overall site was vital to helping unlock funding for the scheme.  Although Route E had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.