Meeting documents

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the District Executive meetings held on 4^th October and 1^st November 2018.

The minutes of the District Executive meetings held on 4^th October and 1^st November 2018, copies of which had been circulated, were taken as read and, having been approved as a correct record, were signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Peter Gubbins and Peter Seib.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

Members are reminded that they need to declare the fact that they are also a member of a County, Town or Parish Council as a Personal Interest. Where you are also a member of Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council within South Somerset you must declare a prejudicial interest in any business on the agenda where there is a financial benefit or gain or advantage to Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council which would be at the cost or to the financial disadvantage of South Somerset District Council. 

There were no declarations of interest made by members of the Committee.

There were no questions raised by members of the public present.

The Chairman advised that there had been a delay in the publication of the Local Government Finance Settlement due to the pressure of government business in Parliament.

The Chairman confirmed that the new Ward Boundaries for South Somerset had now been confirmed by a Parliamentary Order.

The Chairman asked for Councillors agreement to discuss Agenda item 8, Commercial Assets Update Report, after Agenda item 11 at the end of the meeting in the event that they wished to discuss the content of the confidential appendix.  Councillors were in agreement with this.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment, Economic Development and Transformation introduced the report and advised that the Somerset Waste Partnership were moving towards their new waste contracts. 

Mr Mickey Green, Managing Director of the Somerset Waste Partnership, drew Members attention to the main points in the Business Plan 2019 – 2024.  He advised that a new resource policy was expected from the Government which would make producers responsible for the recyclability of their packaging, rather than council tax payers for disposing of it.  He also provided Members with a power point presentation on the new materials to be collected under Sort-It Plus, the approach to risk sharing with the new contractors and the move to 3 weekly collections of residual waste.

In response to questions from Members, the Managing Director of the Somerset Waste Partnership advised that:-

·         New refuse collection vehicles were not expected until March 2020.

·         Some new housing developments were not being planned with roads wide enough for the refuse vehicles.

·         The Waste Partnership’s developer guidance would be re-circulated to Councils with a request that it be integrated into their Local Plans.

·         It was proposed to work actively with the residents in blocks of flats to encourage more recycling.

·         The Waste Partnership would continue to monitor their budget and the risk around recyclate value and discuss this with their Partner Authorities Section 151 officers.

·         The Waste Partnership had not invested any money in the Avonmouth Resource Recovery Centre but they had an anchor-contract to give them their residual waste.

At the conclusion of the debate, the Chairman thanked the Managing Director of the Somerset Waste Partnership for attending to answer Members questions and the recommendations of the report were confirmed. 

(Voting: 7 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)

The Chief Executive introduced the report and advised that the Local Industrial Strategy would be a powerful tool for the local economy.  The Government were in favour of them and it would put the Joint Partnership in a good position when the UK Shared Prosperity Fund was launched in 2019.  He had been chosen to represent the Chief Executives of the District Councils within the Joint Partnership and their focus was the local economy, housing delivery and a proposal for a 3-year housing land supply rather than the existing 5-years.  He said all Councils were concerned that the Government were not sharing any information with them on the impact of Brexit and a letter would shortly be sent to the Government from the Council Leaders asking that they share more information. 

In response to questions from Members, the Chief Executive confirmed:-

·         The impact of a 3-year housing land supply on SSDC had not been calculated.

·         The National Infrastructure Commission would look at the infrastructure required in an area to enable growth.

·         Somerset County Council were currently the Administering Authority for the Joint Committee..

At the conclusion of the debate, the majority of Members were content to recommend the report to full Council for confirmation.

(Voting: 7 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)

The Portfolio Holder for Property and Climate Change and Income Generation introduced the report and advised that staff were looking at investments which met the Council’s requirements but sometimes were out-bid by other investors.

The Commercial Property, Land and Development Manager advised that the report focussed on property investment within the financial strategy to acquire commercial investments to provide an income for the Council. 

Councillor Nick Weeks noted that business units within his Ward were not being built because of lack of investment although all the units had prospective tenants.  The Director for Commercial Services and Income Generation agreed to look at this.

Members agreed to continue the remainder of the debate in confidential session and at the conclusion of the debate, were content to note the contents of the report.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment, Economic Development & Transformation introduced the report and confirmed that a great deal of work and evidence gathering had gone into the draft Economic Development Strategy.  There would be a Delivery Plan underneath the Strategy which would help to monitor its progress.  She said the comments from the Scrutiny Committee would be taken on board and unless there were any substantial changes, the final version would be presented to Council in February 2019.

In response to questions from Members, the Lead Specialist – Economy advised:-

·         During the consultation period, officers would be working on the delivery plan and speaking to finance officers to ensure delivery of the Strategy would commence during 2019.

·         The organisations named in the report had already been consulted on the draft Strategy and they would be asked for their input again.

Councillor Singleton noted that the market town of Crewkerne was not mentioned in the Strategy and she had been assured it would appear in the final document.

At the conclusion of the debate, Members were content to confirm the draft Economic Development Strategy 2019 - 2028 for public consultation.

The Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning (Place Making) introduced the report and said that a great deal of work had gone into its preparation by local residents and it was now incumbent on the Council to accept it and confirm that it be ‘made’.

The Acting Principal Spatial Plannerconfirmed that the £20,000 grant towards the costs of progressing the Neighbourhood Plan had been submitted to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.  She also introduced Leisa Kelly,Specialist – Strategic Planning, who would be responsible for Neighbourhood Plan work in the future.  She concluded by advising there were now 3 confirmed Neighbourhood Plans in the district and the turnout for the referendum had been 29.2% which was the highest of the 3 plans. 

The Chairman congratulated the residents of East Coker for progressing their Neighbourhood Plan and Members were content to confirm the making of the East Coker Neighbourhood Plan.

The following additions and amendments to the Forward Plan were noted:

·         Peer Review Report – January 2019

·         Presentation on the work of SPARK – moved to February 2018

Councillor Nick Weeks asked if information on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) could be circulated to Town and Parish Councils. 

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the District Executive would take place on Thursday 10^th January 2019 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 9.30 a.m.