Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on  22 June  2021

Minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2021 were agreed by Members present and signed by the Chair.

Minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2021 were agreed by Members present and signed by the Chair.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Mark Gaynor, Claire Hamilton & Mark Brookes

Apologies were received from Mark Gaynor, Claire Hamilton & Mark Brookes

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)            may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct for Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

There were no declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements and ask questions in accordance with the rules as to Public Participation.

There was no public participation

There was no public participation

There were no referrals to Cabinet

There were no referrals to Cabinet

There were no referrals to Cabinet

The forward plan was noted

The forward plan was noted

1.         Cabinet noted the responses received to the recent Emerging Strategy for Growth consultation as set out in Appendix 1.

2.         Cabinet noted the views of Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Appendix 3)

3.         Cabinet agreed to defer the Publication of the Local Plan (under Regulation 19) and to undertake further work on the Local Plan as set out in section 9 of this report.

Cllr Anderson presented the report as circulated with the agenda and moved to the recommendations.  In making his introduction, he referred to an amendment under the recommendation 3 of the report, where it makes reference to Section 8, this should read Section 9.  He also went on to express gratitude to the public for their feedback.

JDoe advised that currently waiting publication of planning bill which will form part of the consideration as to where we go next, advising that the service are creating a short guide on NPPF changes which will be distributed via Member News.

Cllr Anderson invited questions.

Cllr Birnie commented that due to an unfortunate delay in the publishing of the minutes of last Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 30^th June, members have not had a chance to address the action points raised at that meeting.

Cllr Birnie went on to advise that at that meeting, there were a number of decisions by inspectors that were addressed, which he observed are also referred to in the report tonight and observed that these are all quite negative in so far of the importance of the green belt where development is concerned.  The Councillor then referred to the York case, which is positive in comparison and asked if the officers could comment, bearing in mind the effect at Amersham, on the weight such arguments may carry.

ARobinson responded and apologised if Councillors had not received the responses to the questions asked at SPAE, advising these were circulated.   He continued with a brief summary of the York case, advising that examination of the York Local Plan has been running for several years.  Officer understanding is following detailed work under habitat regulation assessment,  the local authority were able to remove one of the large allocations from their plan as they were able to demonstrate the harm of that site to the SAC in that part of the country outweighed the benefits of the housing.  He clarified that in this case, it was not a green belt argument but was made under the habitat directive.

Cllr Birnie raised a further question, this time relating to the 5 year land supply and asked; in terms of tackling predatory applications by developers, it has often been claimed that we do not have a 5 year land supply.  One of the points made in the report to SPAE as result of the Reg. 18 responses was a group of residents, numbering 549, had raised the claim that there was enough non green belt land in Dacorum to build 5950 dwellings. If that is true then it seems that we have a 5 years supply for a reasonable ammunition against predatory applications. 

ARobinson responded that the claim, they believe, stems from the residents of Grove Field Resident’s Association.  On further investigation by officers, they do not believe they have provided any information on where that land might be, but it is assumed this refers to the Long Marston area.  ...  view the full minutes text for item CA/48/21

Cabinet agreed that;

1          The Council extends the concessionary contract by a further two years, on the basis of a 1 plus 1 year extension, subject to ongoing satisfactory performance.

2          The additional years’ extensions are linked to performance which should be at, or above, target and that this is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure services are delivered in line with the contract

Cllr Griffiths introduced the report and moved to the recommendations, advising that the procurement of the new contract had been suspended due to the pandemic.  This has been to Overview & Scrutiny Committee and everyone was happy for the contract to be awarded in line with the recommendations. There are positives for maintaining benefits with our current service providers Dens, who have a strong level of political and community support, including a large bank of volunteers.

Cllr Griffiths invited questions.

Cllr Williams commented that this has been a very good collaboration between Dacorum Borough Council and DENS and therefore happy to extend the contract as recommended.

Recommendations agreed.

Cabinet agreed that;

1          The Council extends the concessionary contract by a further two years, on the basis of a 1 plus 1 year extension, subject to ongoing satisfactory performance.

2          The additional years’ extensions are linked to performance which should be at, or above, target and that this is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure services are delivered in line with the contract

Cabinet agreed;

1.         That, at the end of the 5-year flexible tenancy, each family within the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme is offered a secure Council tenancy, dependant on a successful application of Indefinite Leave to Remain.

2.         That Cabinet delegates authority to the Assistant Director of Housing, in association with Portfolio Holder for Housing, to agree suitable arrangements for up to four families from Afghanistan to be accommodated under the Locally Employed Staff scheme, for an initial period of one year

Cllr Griffiths introduced the report and moved the recommendations, explaining that when Dacorum agreed to support Syrian resettlement scheme, we welcomed 10 families a year over the 5 years and the first of those have now reached the end of their 5 years settlement and can now apply for indefinite leave to remain.  The point of this recommendation is to say that rather than being moving these tenants forward with flexible tenancies, we will allow the residents that have come over from Syria to become secure tenants.    They have integrated into the community very well.

Cllr Griffiths invited questions.

Cllr Elliot expressed his wholehearted support, commenting that the recommendations made are the right thing to do.  Cllr Anderson and Cllr Barrett seconded those comments.

Cllr Griffiths put on record thanks to Mandy Peters and her staff, who have gone over and above what they were required to do.  They have built a relationship and trust with them and fully commend their hard work. 

Cllr Griffiths then handed to FWIlliamson to introduce the second recommendation of the report.

FWilliamson advised following on from the Syrian Refugee programme, the Home Office have approached local authorities to ask if we would accommodate some locally employed staff that worked with the military in Afghanistan.  The details of the support that would be given to these individuals has been evolving over the past few weeks and months.  To date the Council has indicated it would be prepared to take up to 4 families from this scheme.  Further to this, we have found out that these individuals will not have the same level of support as the Syrian refugees.  Some of these people were involved in military in areas such as the supply of food etc, they have low levels of English language and cultural differences would require intensive support from team to maintain successful integration.  We have indicated our reservations, as a result of this feedback from all districts. The Home Office are reviewing the current approach.  We are hopeful we will be able to accommodate some of the Afghan families through this scheme, reliant on us having the correct resource to supply the support required.  This is a developing situation and we are in constant liaison with East of England Local Government Association and the Home Office to provide feedback on the support we would expect to be provided centrally.

Recommendation is to delegate responsibility to FWilliamson as Assistant Director Housing, to ensure we have the correct support from the Home Office to be able to accommodate 4 families in same way we support the Syrian refugees.

The chair opened to questions

Cllr Tindall made observation in reference to recommendation 2, that these families are in this positon because they gave aid and support to our troops and coalition troops and therefore putting themselves in serious risk with the troops now leaving so would hope the Home Office and the government will give us the support to help them otherwise we will be  ...  view the full minutes text for item CA/50/21

To consider passing a resolution in the following terms:

That, under s.100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A Part 1 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 the public be excluded during the items in Part 2 of the Agenda for this meeting, because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that, if members of the public were present during those items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council and third party companies/organisations.

Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, Part 1, paragraph 3.

There were no members of the Public to exclude as there were no Part 2 items to discuss.

There were no members of the Public to exclude as there were no Part 2 items to discuss.