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Election of Chair To elect a Chair of the Committee for this Municipal Year 2024/25. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Hinton nominated, and Councillor Walsh seconded Councillor Harrison as Chair of the Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal Year. Also, Councillor Chester nominated, and Councillor Proudfoot seconded Councillor Chandler as Chair of the Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal year. Following a vote, it was RESOLVED that Councillor Harrison be elected Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal Year. |
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Election of Vice-Chair To elect a Vice-Chair of the Committee for this Municipal Year 2024/5. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Parnall nominated, and Councillor Ashford seconded Councillor Walsh as Vice Chair of the Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal Year. Also, Councillor Chester nominated, and Councillor Khan seconded Councillor Chandler as Vice Chair of the Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal year. Following a vote, it was RESOLVED that Councillor Walsh be elected Vice Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2024/25 Municipal Year. |
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Minutes To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting. Supporting documents: Minutes: RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2024 be approved and signed. |
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Apologies for absence and substitutions To receive any apologies for absence and notification of any substitute Members in accordance with the Constitution. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Smith, there was no substitute. |
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Declarations of interest To receive any Declarations of Interest (including the existence and nature of any Party Whip). Additional documents: Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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A23 Great Street Design Code SPD Supporting documents:
Minutes: The Executive Member for Place, Planning, and Regulatory Services, Councillor Michalowski introduced the A23 Great Design Code SPD. The National Planning Policy Framework requires local planning authorities to prepare design guides or codes that are consistent with the principles set out in the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code. It states these should reflect the local character and design preferences for their area. The recent Levelling Up and Regeneration Act has strengthened this requirement, requiring every local authority to produce a design code for its area. The Government wants a move away from design guides to design codes which are more specific criteria-based documents. Like most local authorities, this authority has not historically had a design code but were able to benefit from Government support and funding for the preparation of this A23 Great Street Design Code as part of the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Pathfinder Programme. The Code sets a high-level vision covering the area between Redhill and Horley with a focus on the A23 corridor. It contains a set of rules and guidance that development must adhere to, which will provide certainty for developers and landowners when they look to promote their site in the area. It will provide an essential tool for the Council as decision maker to be able to assess the aspirational design quality of emerging proposals and to dictate the design standard that we expect. It does not intend to deliver immediate change and any detailed proposals would be subject to their own planning or highways applications or consultations before being realised, offering further opportunity for stakeholders to assess and comment on matters of detail. Throughout the Pathfinder programme, three main engagements events have taken place to facilitate public engagement to help inform the ambitions of the Design Code, which aim to deliver around four principal themes, and these themes are: · To make the area work better for pedestrians and cyclists; · To improve access to open spaces and parks; · To identify opportunities for development; and · To raise the quality of design. Should the SPD be adopted, it is to be hoped that it would help leverage developer or partner funding to help realise these objectives over the coming years. Stakeholders have been engaged with Borough and County officers and our consultants throughout the process and this has helped inform the content of the SPD. Any comments received from LPAG, Leaders, and Executive meetings have also been incorporated. The formal public consultation was held from 7th December 2023 to 18th January 2024 for a period of 6 weeks. The comments received from the public consultation have been summarised in the consultation statement and have helped inform the amended draft Design Code SPD. Should the Executive agree, the A23 Great Street Design Code will be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document on 20 June 2024. The Executive Member invited Members to ask questions on the report and documents within the agenda pack. In response, the following clarifications were provided: Sustainable development ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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Overview of Scrutiny To receive an introduction to the purpose of overview and scrutiny and the work of the Committee. Supporting documents:
Minutes: Committee Members received an introduction to the purpose of overview and scrutiny, the work of the Committee, and the use of the web library from the Chair, Councillor Harrison, and Democratic Services Officer, Marie Crabtree. A virtual training session for Committee Members and substitutes facilitated by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny would take place on 15 July 2024. It was also confirmed that an all-Member briefing on Raven Housing Trust was being planned for September 2024. It was confirmed that responsibility for approving the authority’s Statement of Accounts lies with Audit Committee rather than Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Although the 2019/20 external audit was still outstanding, this authority was in the same position as other authorities, waiting for the appointed external auditor to audit the accounts. Clerk’s note: at the meeting, the Member referenced the 2019/20 audit; following the meeting, it was confirmed that the 2019/20 audit has been approved and it is the external audit reports for 2020/21 onwards that are outstanding. |
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Overview and Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme To consider and agree any changes to the schedule for Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Forward Work Programme 2024/25 and to consider the Action Tracker from the previous meeting. Supporting documents:
Minutes: The Committee received the Overview & Scrutiny Forward Work Programme and the action tracker. It was noted that the pending items on the Forward Work Programme were all dependent on other factors; the Review of the Recycling Service was dependent on the Government guidance on recycling and waste; the Review of the Greenspaces Strategy was dependent on the new Greenspaces Strategy being developed early in 2025; the Leisure and Culture Strategy had been delayed due to the problems at the Harlequin Theatre. The Chair confirmed that the additional topic for scrutiny on waste water was being discussed by the Chair, Vice Chair and Managing Director to consider the best way to implement this. It was confirmed that if a Member did not feel that a question on the action tracker had been answered satisfactorily, the Member should communicate this and the question would be revisited. If relevant officers were not in attendance at the meeting, the question could possibly be misunderstood. RESOLVED – the Committee agreed the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme for 2024/25 and noted the action tracker. |
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Change of date for July 2024 meeting To agree the proposed change of date for the next committee meeting from 4 July 2024 to 11 July 2024. Additional documents: Minutes: Due to the general election being called on 4 July 2024, the date of the July meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would need to be changed. RESOLVED – that Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed to the change of date for the next meeting to 11 July 2024. |
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Executive To consider any items arising from the Executive which might be subject to the ‘call-in’ procedure in accordance with the provisions of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules set out in the Constitution. Additional documents: Minutes: It was reported that there were no items arising from the Executive that might be subject to the ‘call-in’ procedure in accordance with the provisions of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules. |
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Any other urgent business To consider any item(s) which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be considered as a matter of urgency - Local Government Act 1972, Section 100B(4)(b).
(NOTE: Under the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedure Rules set out in the Constitution, items of urgent business must be submitted in writing but may be supplemented by an oral report.) Additional documents: Minutes: There were no items of urgent business. |