Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes and decisions from the previous meeting

The minutes held on 10^th September 2024 were confirmed and agreed by the Members present.

The minutes held on 10^th September 2024 were confirmed and agreed by the Members present.

To receive any apologies for absence

It was noted that there were no apologies for absence.  

It was noted that there were no apologies for absence.  

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]

It was noted that there were no declarations of interest.

It was noted that 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

The following registered speakers addressed the committee;

Emma Lelieveld addressed the committee on Item 8 the Local Plan and made a statement which included the following question;

When did the respective owners of BK02 and BK03 approach the Council for their sites to be reinstated in the local plan and what recommendation did the Council make to them on pre-consultation with the local community

Elizabeth O’Reilly addressed the committee on Item 8 the Local Plan.

Steve Ballantyne & Keith Baker addressed the committee on Item 8 the Local Plan with a joint statement.

The committee noted the representations made and responses were provided by Cllr England, JDoe and RLeydon. 

The following registered speakers addressed the committee;

Emma Lelieveld addressed the committee on Item 8 the Local Plan and made a statement which included the following question;

When did the respective owners of BK02 and BK03 approach the Council for their sites to be reinstated in the local plan and what recommendation did the Council make to them on pre-consultation with the local community

Elizabeth O’Reilly addressed the committee on Item 8 the Local Plan.

Steve Ballantyne & Keith Baker addressed the committee on Item 8 the Local Plan with a joint statement.

The committee noted the representations made and responses were provided by Cllr England, JDoe and RLeydon. 

For full details of the statements and responses, please refer to the video minutes.

There were no referrals to Cabinet

It was noted that there were no referrals to Cabinet for consideration.

It was noted that there were no referrals to Cabinet for consideration.

The forward plan was noted with no changes.

The forward plan was noted with no changes.

1.    Cabinet approved the Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2024/25 to 2028/29 as set out in Appendix A to the report.

2.    Cabinet noted a four-year General Fund savings requirement of £2.5m between 2025 – 2029.

3.    Cabinet noted that the Chief Finance Officer will work with the Council’s Strategic Leadership Team and Cabinet to deliver options that will achieve the medium-term saving targets identified within the strategy.

4.    Cabinet endorsed the Financial Planning Framework to support the budget setting process for 2025/26.

5.    Cabinet agreed that the Chief Finance Officer be requested to revise the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and re-present to Cabinet for approval if material changes to forecasts are required following future Government announcements

6.    Cabinet resolved to recommend that Council approves the fees and charges in appendices C-F, with the exception of garden Waste and garages fees that require further review prior to recommendation to Council. The car parking fees will be set through the ongoing parking tariff consultation and review process that is delegated to the Portfolio holder for Corporate and Commercial.

Cllr England introduced the report and invited the Chief Finance Officer, NHowcutt, to present the report which includes a proposed amendment to recommendation 6.

NHowcutt outlined the report and referred to the recommendations as set out and advised that there is a slight amendment to recommendation 6, which recommends that Cabinet recommend to Council the approval of the fees & charges in appendices C to F.  This is now with the exception of garden waste and garage fees that are going to come under additional review before final authorisation through council.  One other point worth noticing that has come back from comments at scrutiny last week; there are car parking fees in the appendices there with a 0% increase.  As this committee is aware, the parking tariff consultation process is underway and coming to a conclusion and that has been a delegated decision to the Portfolio Holder so this report is not asking for Council or Cabinet to make any recommendations on car parking fees.

Cllr Williams raised a question relating to the amendment to recommendation 6 and the change in the timescales in the way in which fees and charges are now set.

To view the discussion on this item, please refer to the video minutes.

Decision:

The recommendations as set out in the report were agreed, subject to the amendment to recommendation 6, to read;

Cabinet resolved to recommend to Council:

1.    That the new Dacorum Local Plan to 2041 Pre-Submission Version (Appendix 1), Proposed Submission Policies Map Publication Version (Appendix 2) and supporting documents be made available for a six-week publication period under Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012;

2.    Following the six-week period as referred to in recommendation (1) above, to authorise the Strategic Director for Place, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to submit the Dacorum Local Plan to 2041 Pre-Submission Version and all associated documents, together with a Statement including how the responses from previous consultations have been taken into account and a summary of the main issues raised in the publication stage responses, to the Secretary of State for independent examination under Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012;

3.    To authorise the Strategic Director for Place, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to make non-material changes and corrections to the Dacorum Local Plan to 2041 and supporting documents, to address editorial, typographical and grammatical errors, up to the close of consultation period;

4.    To authorise the Strategic Director for Place, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to propose changes and corrections to the Dacorum Local Plan to 2041 and supporting documents, including policy updates, editorial, typographical and grammatical errors, during and following the publicity period, plan submission and during examination;

5.    To authorise the Strategic Director for Place, once the Dacorum Local Plan to 2041 has been submitted for examination, to invite the examining Inspector(s) to recommend any modifications they consider to be necessary in accordance with section 20(7C) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004; and

6.    To approve the new Local Development Scheme (October 2024), attached at Appendix 3

It was agreed that the Local Plan (item 8) would be considered ahead of item 7 to continue the discussion started during public participation. 

Cllr Allen addressed officers, advising he had a couple of questions of his own but also felt there were a couple of strands he would like to raise where he feels the resident’s questions hadn’t quite been addressed;

1.      Regarding grey belt, this has been addressed in terms of specific sites in Berkhamsted but where have we got to in terms of grey belt potential elsewhere in the Borough?

2.      The other item is the issue of the feeling in Berkhamsted that they’ve had things hoisted on them in a way that Tring residents had more warning; so what was the timing and dynamic of these sites coming forward again and Berkhamsted residents having an opportunity to comment on them?

3.      Given the sensitive nature of Marshcroft, does not putting Marshcroft into the Local Plan potentially cause more predatory development as nothing in Dacorum is sacred anymore?

4.      Cllr Allen observed that on one hand Dacorum is facing the danger of predatory development, on other hand the Borough is saying there is not enough well advanced sites available as alternatives; seem to be two contradictory statements being made.  He asked; is there any way to explain how those are being reconciled?

Following a point of clarification being raised (indicating it was not felt the question had been answered), Cllr England addressed officers and reiterated the question submitted by Emma Lelieveld under public participation.

Cllr England addressed officers and asked; we are trying to understand why there are not more sites which are capable of technical qualification and have willing land owners, is that because they do not exist or is it due to the resource we have available to identify these?

Cllr Smith-Wright addressed the committee and expressed she feels that we are being asked to make a decision that very much doesn’t feel comfortable.  Expressing that she would like to see that the environment is very much kept in mind for future building; for the Council to talk to developers from the word go to ask them to put sustainability and the ecological emergency at the forefront so that any houses that are built will not be a travesty to our towns and villages.

Cllr Dhyani expressed that the Cabinet want to be known as a listening Council; to take on board the feedback of residents as the people that have to live here, we want to ensure we get the right infrastructure alongside the right houses in Dacorum.

Cllr Bromham advised that he would like to push the sustainability of heating of homes and sustainable travel, want us to utilise this plan to put our aspirations forward to achieve actions that will reduce the cost of living and quality of life and pollution etc.

Cllr Bromham asked a point of clarification question regarding the west Berkhamsted sites and accessibility; the high street as we  ...  view the full minutes text for item CA/91/21

Cabinet approved the Maylands Masterplan as set out in the report.

Cllr England introduced the item and handed over to JDoe who presented the report and advised this was considered at overview and scrutiny last week.

To view the full discussion on this please refer to the video minutes.

Decision;

The recommendations as set out in the report were agreed.

Cabinet noted the report.

Cllr Dhyani introduced the report; there were no questions.

Cllr Allen congratulated the officers and department for the progress.

For full details please refer to the video minutes.

Decision;

Cabinet noted the report.     

1.    Cabinet approved the report to adopt and commence delivery of the Parking Solutions Policy.

2.    Cabinet delegated authority to approve the delivery of schemes to the Strategic Director, Neighbourhood Operations in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, Neighbourhood Operations

Cllr Bromham introduced the report, highlighting the verge hardening sites identified to address the issues highlighted by increased volume of vehicles in residential streets.

Cllr Allen raised a question regarding potential to use of ward CIL contributions to support this.

Cllr Williams referred to the inference that there has been 24 sites identified, noting the site information is not included in the report and asked to see the list of schemes that are likely to go ahead and what the timescales will be for that work to start.

For full discussion please refer to the video minutes.

Decision;

The recommendations as set out in the report were agreed.

1.    Cabinet delegated approval to the Strategic Director (Corporate & Commercial), supported by Statutory Officers, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Commercial Services, to design and undertake a competitive selection process to select a suitable Partner(s) to work in conjunction with the Council in an Investment Partnership model.

2.    Cabinet approved the commissioning of suitable independent advice on the financial, tax, legal, procurement and governance arrangements to ratify the approach.

3.    Cabinet resolved to recommend to Council approval of a one-off drawdown of £230,000 from Council development reserves to undertake work related to creating and entering into the Investment Partnership(s)

Cllr England introduced the report and handed over to NHowcutt who gave a high level overview of the report.

For the full discussion, please refer to the video minutes.

Decision;

The recommendations as set out in the report were agreed.