Agenda and draft minutes

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 15 March 2016 were confirmed by the members present and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Bateman and Councillor Matthews.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

There was no public participation.

None.

D Austin introduced the report to members and ran through a few key points. The waste service contract in Dacorum expires in October 2017 and so it is time to start thinking about the new contract. Discussions have taken place with neighbouring authorities to work together and go out to tender with Watford, Welwyn Hatfield and Three Rivers. Dacorum has a very good reputation for the quality of recyclables and the council will maintain control of that under the new consortium contract. There is a debate in the industry particularly in local authorities over whether it is better to play the market with short term deals or to go for longer term agreements which allows for long term investment and stability in the waste service.

Councillor Ashbourn said that the consortium could be a good approach but it is important to be careful if a clearly identifiable benefit or balance can be established against the cost. Also, the cost of exit and if there will be an exit policy. Councillor Ashbourn said he understood the arguments but hoped there would a degree of caution.

D Austin said he understood the concerns and there was historically a Hertfordshire Waste Partnership consortium for newspapers and other recyclable materials. Some districts on their own were receiving £75-100 a tonne whereas in the consortium we were receiving well over £100 a tonne. There are standard clauses in the contract for an exit.

Councillor S Hearn asked D Austin if he was confident that the quality of the service will be maintained and not affected by the influence of other local authorities.

D Austin said that the new contract would not directly impact on residents. It is important to increase public participation and to not get complacent. As a department, we are always looking to improve the service, for example, No Food Waste stickers were put on residents black bins and in the first week, there was a huge increase in food waste collected. Dacorum have a waste transfer system whereby inspections can be made before it is sent off to the reprocessor. If there are issues with contamination on a particular round then targeted work can be done to improve the quality of the waste. There is nothing to suggest this would change under the new contract.

Councillor E Collins said she was concerned by a seven year long contract; it is a long time to commit when there are rapid changes in the population.

D Austin said there are more single households which changes the composition of the waste. Also, there are changes in materials which have an effect. For example, glass is getting thinner which then decreases the amount of tonnage collected. Newspapers are also in decline as more people use online resources. There is a price index which reflects price changes in materials and Dacorum will receive a financial benefit in this new contract if the market picks up. There is not a lot of difference if Dacorum go it alone  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.

J Doe gave members a brief update on the conservative strategy. He said heritage was very important and there are currently 2,000 listed buildings and 25 Conservation areas in Dacorum. The department is one of the best resourced in Hertfordshire. The Conservation Strategy was approved at Cabinet in November 2015. There is an annual action plan and this is focused on Conservation area appraisals with a photographic database in preparation for the move to the Forum.

There are heritage issues in development and the heritage team’s time is taken up with providing comments for the planning casework team. They also receive listed building applications. The team had a huge input in the Water Garden and Old Town design.

Councillor Ashbourn congratulated the officers on the Strategy and Action Plan documents provided. He questioned how well these documents will be aligned with day to day planning activity.

J Doe said a lot of conservation officer’s time was occupied with case work. Hopefully, the character appraisals will provide up to date information which is very important to properly assess planning applications. It is important to manage the department to ensure an appropriate balance of time. 

Councillor Ashbourn said that with a new influx of staff in the planning department, it is very important to interact and liaise with Town and Parish Councils.

S Whelan said that a new conservation officer had been appointed and would be a great addition to the department. Recently, there was a training session to look at conservation design in Berkhamsted and Tring which has empowered officers to understand conservation a lot more. Another session is planned for summer and it is hoped this would include some site visits. There are also plans in have a ‘design surgery’ for planning officers with conservation officers on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

Councillor Anderson asked what measures were in place to ensure the independence of the conservation officers’ advice.

J Doe said that the conservation officer is just one of the many consultees and planning officers must weigh up conflicting advice which can be difficult. If the planning issue is in a conservation area with listed buildings then the conservation comments carry a lot of weight. Other priorities include regeneration and house building. Every case is processed with a recommendation which is presented to a senior case officer for checking. This ensures checks and balances throughout the process.

S Whelan said she is yet to encounter any issue with the independence of conservation officer. S Whelan said she was comfortable officers were providing professional advice.

Councillor Hicks was pleased that there was a system of checking. He said the trouble was that applicants spend a lot of money on architect fees to match the advice given and then this is eventually rejected due to differing opinions in senior officers. Should there be a common set of ideals within the department?

S Whelan said they receive approximately 2,500 planning applications a year. She hoped there was a consistent approach. The department are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

S Whelan introduced the report and highlighted the key points. She said the Housing and Planning Bill currently going through Parliament was going to create huge changes.

Starter homes are to be offered at 80% of market price to first time buyers under 40 with a limit of £250,000. At the moment, the borough negotiates affordable housing as there is huge pressure to provide this. The starter homes will not be subject to s106 or CIL payments meaning less income from the borough.

The new bill will ensure every local authority has a local plan in place by 2017. Dacorum have a local plan but is in the process of updating the Core Strategy.

The brownfield land register will come into force. Local authorities will be required to place all brownfield land onto a register to encourage developers to come forward to build new homes. It is thought that 90% of all brownfield sites by 2020 will have permission in principle which will assess land use. It becomes complicated when it involves heritage assets and flood risk areas.

The bill may create an approved provider approach. The local authority will only hand over full property history to a private company which will liaise and consult with residents and town/parish councils. They will provide a recommendation to the local authority but the final decision still remains with the local authority.

There will be an increase in fees which is good news. They should be increased in line with inflation. At the moment, the department does not recover its costs.

Councillor Ashbourn said he understood the new legislation was fast paced but he felt there was a danger of getting absorbed in the momentum. He felt the council had a duty of care to residents and their well-being. There is currently a huge pressure on roads and traffic and he was conscious of responsibilities.

J Doe said the quality of design was vital. There will be less impact when developments are properly planned with suitable facilities and open spaces.

Councillor Anderson highlighted that local authorities are obliged to follow new legislation but hoped it would be possible to interpret legislation. He said he had followed three planning bills through Parliament and found they changed rapidly.

S Whelan said she worked closely with the Planning Officers Society who have been invited to scrutiny sessions and has undertaken a lot of lobbying on this bill. The bill could change again before it becomes law but she felt starter homes were definitely here to stay. The new bill will certainly make the planning process more complicated.

Councillor Anderson said that parish councils were upset that the consultation stage may be removed.

S Whelan said that the technical details will be at the permission in principle stage. However, there are no set details like how many homes, the style of homes etc which will be difficult to articulate to parish councils.

Councillor Hicks asked the size of a starter home.

S Whelan said the only limit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.

S Whelan introduced the report to members. She said they had a good market share in the residential sector, but not quite as good in the commercial side and this is an area to improve on. The department is legally bound to publish its fees but this means they are undercut by private firms up to 10%.

There is a Hertfordshire consortium but it was felt that it was not financially viable or attractive so therefore building control is now in-house.

Staffing levels are critical. There are five temporary members of staff and two permanent. Building Control is a competitive market and Dacorum have a good reputation within Hertfordshire so temps are keen to come and work for the council. It is hoped that a ‘grow your own’ scheme can be used in the department to either support a candidate through a degree or a graduate. Performance related pay has been discussed and St Albans council have introduced this.

Councillor Ashbourn stated he liked the idea of the ‘grow your own’ scheme in order to instil the correct values.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said Dacorum is a high employment area on the outskirts of London which means it is difficult to attract new staff. Do we have market forces payments to entice people to work and stay at Dacorum.

J Doe said the department did have but was withdrawn for budget savings. It is a careful consideration to make. St Albans performance pay comes from their surplus on fee income.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said the Council must be paying over the odds for agency staff. Surely the savings from agency staff can be used for performance pay for permanent staff.

Outcome

The Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the report.

S Whelan introduced the report to the committee. She said that income was steady and work was underway to put the service online. When it is live, they will be able to charge for the service and this will also help with the move to the Forum. Land Charge project is a government initiative and the timeline states it will be ready by 2020 which should include a central search engine.

Councillor Ashbourn hoped the process to moving it digital would be robust because it has been known for documents to go missing.

S Whelan said everything would be digitalised to ensure staff can work from home. This is a huge project but will be a big achievement when complete.

Councillor Howard asked what the slippage on date is. They seem to be quite tight deadlines.

J Doe said these were draft dates. The Conservation appraisals will be allocated to consultants so will not take up officer’s time.

Outcome

The Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the report.