Meeting documents

• (Attachment: 1)Minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 23 April 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed.

Executive Members: Councillor A.J. Kay.

Non-Executive Members: Councillors Mrs R. Absalom, J.M. Ellacott and N.D. Harrison.
 

Councillors V.W. Broad and Mrs R. Mill declared non pecuniary interests in Item 5 (Tadworth Neighbourhood Area application) as Members of or a relative of Members serving on the Banstead Commons Conservators who made representations as part of the application for the Neighbourhood Area.

• (Attachment: 2)Contaminated Land Strategy report (2M/bytes)
• | (Attachment: 3)Background papers for Contaminated Land report (10K/bytes)

Councillor J. Durrant, Executive Member for Licensing and Enforcement, introduced to the Executive a report that set out a revised Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy.

The Strategy outlined the Council’s duties in dealing with potentially contaminated land, and had been updated to reflect the recently adopted Five Year Plan 2015-2020, statutory guidance and the reduction/abolition of the central Government grants programme.

The Strategy was proposed to run from 2015-2020, with a full review scheduled in 2020, unless any significant changes to Council/Government policy or guidance necessitated a sooner review. It was proposed that any minor or technical revisions to the Strategy would be made under delegated powers to the Function Manager with responsibility for Environmental Health, with any significant revisions remaining subject to approval by the Executive.
 

The strategy incorporated a proposed contaminated land hardship and cost recovery policy statement. This outlined the Council’s stance on cost recovery should land clean up (remediation) be ultimately required on a site.

RESOLVED that:

(i) the Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy at Annex 1 be adopted to ensure that the council continues to meet its statutory duties under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; and

(ii) the Function Manager with responsibility for Environmental Health be authorised to make minor or technical changes to the Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy to ensure that it is up to date.

Reasons for decision: The Strategy was required to undergo periodic review and updating as and when required. Changes to statutory guidance and the Government’s Contaminated Land Capital Grant Funding Scheme had necessitated an update to this strategy at this time. The update would help to minimise any potential financial impact contaminated land issues could have on the Council by clearly outlining its policies.

Alternative options: Amend the proposed Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy, or do not approve the proposed Strategy.
 

• (Attachment: 4)Neighbourhood Area, Tadworth Report (225K/bytes)
• | (Attachment: 5)Background papers, Neighbourhood Area, Tadworth (5M/bytes)

The Executive was requested to elect a Chairman for this item in the absence of both the Leader of the Council (who had declared an interest and left the meeting) and the Deputy Leader of the Council.

Councillor Mrs N.J. Bramhall proposed and Councillor E. Humphreys seconded the nomination of Councillor G. Knight who was duly elected as Chairman for this item.

Councillor T. Schofield, Executive Member for Planning and Development informed the Executive that applications for designation of a Neighbourhood Area and Forum had been submitted to the Council by the Tadworth Forum, and publicised by the Council. It was noted that in the parts of the borough without a Parish Council, the first stage in the preparation of a Neighbourhood Development Plan was for the local community to make applications to the Council for designation of a Neighbourhood Area and a Neighbourhood Forum.

The Council may only designate a Neighbourhood Forum if it was satisfied that the proposed body met a number of criteria and conditions, including being established for the express purpose of promoting or improving the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of an area, having at least 21 members, being representative of the local community and having a written constitution.

Information submitted by the Tadworth Forum in its application to be designated as a Neighbourhood Forum had been assessed against these criteria. The Executive noted that the current application failed to demonstrate a number of those requirements.

It was noted that the Council must designate a Neighbourhood Area if it received a valid application, and if some or all of the area applied for had not yet been designated. For an application to be valid, it must be made by either a parish council or an organisation or body which was, or was capable of being, designated as a Neighbourhood Forum.

The Executive Member expressed concern that the Tadworth Forum did not currently meet a number of the conditions or tests for designation to allow it’s designation as a proposed Neighbourhood Forum to be considered. This in turn prevented the Council from determining the Neighbourhood Area at this stage.

The Executive noted that there was no objection in principle to the community in Tadworth developing a Neighbourhood Plan, and it was open to the Tadworth Forum to provide further information about how it met the relevant conditions and tests and was capable of being designated as a Neighbourhood Forum.

Note: Councillor V.W. Broad declared a non pecuniary interest in the item as a Member of the Banstead Commons Conservators and Councillor Mrs R. Mill similarly declared a non pecuniary interest as her husband was a member of the Conservators. Both Members left the meeting for its consideration.

RESOLVED that:

(i) the principle of a Neighbourhood Forum for Tadworth be supported, but the application for designation of the Tadworth Forum as a Neighbourhood Forum be refused, for the reason that the Council cannot be satisfied that the group meets the conditions and tests for designation set out in section 61F (5) and (7) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended);

(ii) the application for designation of a Neighbourhood Area for Tadworth by the Tadworth Forum not be determined for the reason that the Tadworth Forum are not a relevant body for the purposes of section 61G the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended), and the application was therefore not valid; and

(iii) the Tadworth Forum be advised that for their application for designation of a Neighbourhood Area to be valid, further information demonstrating that they were capable of being designated as a Neighbourhood Forum should be provided.

Reasons for decision:

Recommendation (i): The principle of establishing a Neighbourhood Forum in Tadworth for the purposes of preparing a Neighbourhood Plan was supported. However the current application failed to demonstrate that the conditions and tests for designation of a Neighbourhood Forum set out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) had been met. Specifically, the Council could not be satisfied that:

a. the Forum had been established for the express purpose of promoting the social, environmental and economic well-being of the area through the neighbourhood plan making system, or that it had a purpose that reflected the general character of the area
b. the Forum’s membership was genuinely open to individuals who live in, work in or are elected members for, the area concerned
c. the Forum would operate in a manner consistent with the requirement for a minimum of 21 members
d. the Forum had a written constitution that had been properly agreed by the Forum
e. the Forum had a representative membership drawn from different places in the area concerned and from different sections of the community.

Recommendation (ii): Assessment of the application information provided by the Tadworth Forum had concluded that the Council could not be satisfied that the conditions for designation of a Neighbourhood Forum had been met. The Tadworth Forum in its current form was therefore not capable of being designated as a Neighbourhood Forum. As such, it was not a relevant body for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended). The Neighbourhood Area application was not valid and there was no legal duty on the Council to determine the application or designate a Neighbourhood Area for Tadworth at this stage.

Recommendation (iii): Further information was required from the Tadworth Forum to demonstrate that it was a relevant body, in order to make the Neighbourhood Area application valid.

Alternative options:
In relation to the Neighbourhood Forum application, to designate the Tadworth Forum as the Neighbourhood Forum for Tadworth, or defer the decision about whether to designate the Tadworth Forum.

In relation to the Neighbourhood Area application, legislation requires that a LPA must designate a Neighbourhood Area if it received a valid application (made by a relevant body), and if some or all of the area applied for had not yet been designated. For the reasons identified it had been concluded that the Tadworth Forum was not a relevant body, and the application was therefore not valid. There were no alternative options open to the Council.
 

• (Attachment: 6)Outturn report (139K/bytes)
• | (Attachment: 7)Background papers, Outturn Report (727K/bytes)

The Executive Member for Finance, Councillor G. Knight, presented the report on the 2014/15 provisional outturn for revenue (£173,000 overspend) and capital (£5.8m underspend). The report identified and explained key variances, and proposed changes to the levels of the Council’s reserves.

In relation to the capital programme, it was noted that the main components of the 2014/15 underspend had been previously reported and that the level of the underspend was not out of the ordinary. The underspend had been primarily caused by slippage in a number of projects, but the majority of projects remained on target. Any unspent budget would remain in the Council’s capital reserves.

In relation to the revenue budget, the Executive heard that the main variances had been predicted early in the year and managed well to reduce the final overspend to just 1% of the budget.
 

The overspend was principally due to two variances: the fall in recyclate prices caused by volatility of demand in emerging markets; and a significant increase in homelessness within the borough (and nationally) which had led to a higher than anticipated spend on bed and breakfast accommodation for families in need.

RESOLVED that

(i) the Provisional Outturn position for 2014/15 be noted; and

(ii) the use of reserves proposed in paragraph 11 be endorsed and the Chief Finance Officer be authorised to make the necessary arrangements.

Reasons for decision: To advise Members of the revenue and capital expenditure for 2014/15 and to authorise the proposed use of reserves.

Alternative options: To amend the proposal to fund the overspend as set out in paragraphs 11.
 

• (Attachment: 8)Annual Governance report (367K/bytes)

The Executive noted that the Council was required to publish an annual statement on its corporate governance arrangements, which would accompany the Council’s annual Statement of Accounts.

Statutory regulations recommend that the body charged with overall responsibility for governance within the Council (in this case the Executive) should review and endorse the statement prior to its formal signature by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.

A statement for the year ended 31 March 2015 was presented to the Executive as an Annex to the report and was based on the following sources of evidence:

• Annual Internal Auditor Report.
• External Audit and Inspection Reports.
• Issues identified from the Council’s Risk Registers.
• Annual assurance statements signed by the Management Team that confirm that the Council had achieved ‘best value’ and had complied with all relevant legislation, regulations and codes of practice.

The statement included reference to the independent opinions of the Council’s internal and external auditors, which provided considerable assurance in respect of the Council’s governance arrangements. These had identified no significant issues or areas for improvement other than 2 points raised in the Internal Audit Opinion. Plans to address these concerns were detailed in the Statement.

Overall the Council was confident that it had proposals in place to ensure that resources were directed toward identified priorities and to ensure that it would continue to seek innovative ways of securing value for money.

RESOLVED that the Annual Governance Statement set out in Annex 1 be endorsed.

Reasons for decision: To endorse the Council’s Annual Governance Statement before it was included within the annual Statement of Accounts.

Alternative options: To reject or amend the contents of the statement in Annex 1.
 

The Leader of the Council, Councillor V.W. Broad informed the Executive that the Council had been highly commended in the Municipal Journal Innovation in Finance award for its work to secure investment in the Borough and drive regeneration.

The Leader thanked the Executive and staff for their excellent work in gaining this national recognition.
 

None.