Agenda item

That:

1.    the success of the bid and receipt and application of £0.75m equally shared with Dacorum Borough Council and St. Albans District and City Council for their work in 2018/19 be noted.

2.    The draw down from the Local Development Framework Reserve of £0.14m in 19/20 and the residual £0.235m in 20/21 in line with Table 2 - 2 Year Spending Plan be approved and RESOLVE TO RECOMMEND its approval to Council.

3.    MHCLG has given Garden Town status to Hemel Hempstead as a result of the bid be noted.

4.    Funds to progress Hemel Hempstead Garden Town and Hemel Garden Communities are allocated and spent in broad alignment with the submitted Garden Communities bid to MHCLG.

5.    Delegated authority is given to the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Infrastructure and Assistant Director Planning, Development and Regeneration to agree the detail in the Operational Project Plan.

6.    Cabinet endorses the Project Plan in Appendix 6, 2 Year Spending Plan in Table 2 and Strategic Memorandum of Understanding between SADC, DBC and HCC in Appendix 4 and Indicative Governance Structure in Appendix 5.

7.     Progress on Hemel Garden Communities and next steps are noted. 

Decision

That:

1.    the success of the bid and receipt and application of £0.75m equally shared with Dacorum Borough Council and St. Albans District and City Council for their work in 2018/19 be noted.

2.    The draw down from the Local Development Framework Reserve of £0.14m in 19/20 and the residual £0.235m in 20/21 in line with Table 2 - 2 Year Spending Plan be approved and RESOLVE TO RECOMMEND its approval recommended to Council.

3.    MHCLG has given Garden Town status to Hemel Hempstead as a result of the bid be noted.

4.    Funds to progress Hemel Hempstead Garden Town and Hemel Garden Communities are allocated and spent in broad alignment with the submitted Garden Communities bid to MHCLG.

5.    Delegated authority is given to the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Infrastructure and Assistant Director Planning, Development and Regeneration to agree the detail in the Operational Project Plan.

6.    Cabinet endorses the Project Plan in Appendix 6, 2 Year Spending Plan in Table 2  and Strategic Memorandum of Understanding between SADC, DBC and HCC in Appendix 4 and Indicative Governance Structure in Appendix 5.

7.     Progress on Hemel Garden Communities and next steps are noted. 

Corporate objectives

The proposals for major development at north and east Hemel Hempstead through the Hemel Garden Communities proposals are wide-ranging and relate to all corporate objectives.

Monitoring Officer:  

There are no direct legal implications arising from the report at this stage, however, the legal team should continue to be consulted as the governance arrangements for the project are developed. 

S.151 Officer

The use of the Local Development Framework (LDF) reserve to fund the HGC project is in line with the strategic purpose of this specific reserve.

An additional £375k was allocated to the LDF reserve in 2018/19 to fund additional strategic planning for the HGC project over the next 2 years.

Advice

Councillor G Sutton said this report follows on from the outcome of the bid submitted to MHCLG in 2018. The £750k was awarded to DBC and St Albans. This report is seeking authority to draw funds down from reserves to cover the extra staffing costs. The success of the bid is down to the hard work and dedication of staff from both councils. This is a great achievement as only 5 out of 100 districts were successful in their bids. There are discussions ongoing for future funding.

C Taylor said a lot of the annexes to the report are the details for taking the next steps like recruitment and tendering of some of the work.

Councillor Tindall asked if we have managed to finish recruitment.

C Taylor said the recruitment has been prepared but not advertised.

Councillor Tindall asked if this meant there could be some slippage on the project.

C Taylor said this may be possible but the team are working hard with preparations and the SPAR team have been carrying out this work on top of their day jobs.

Councillor Williams said in terms of scale, there is the right investment in forward planning and design. This is a major development on the edge of Hemel Hempstead and funding will be crucial.

C Taylor said they have had early meetings with the Garden City network. This funding is just the beginning of the process. The garden town status means we are now part of the organisation with the opportunity to bid for future bids.

S Marshall said there has been dialogues with key partners (St Albans council and Herts County Council) and there has been an agreement for us to host the officer. The recruitment process for the officer post will be a joint process. There are ongoing discussions with Homes England and there are problems with future funding as the government haven’t decided on their funding. Discussions are being taken at the highest level.

Councillor Williams said he has had discussions with the new leader at St Albans and they are keen to continue with this project. It is important to have good working relationships and they will be determining some of the planning applications on our boundary.

Councillor Tindall asked if there was any scope to look at the parking situation across the borough and if two teams are coming together they could share ideas on how to relieve parking stress.

M Gaynor said this project will look at sustainable transport across the borough.

Councillor Williams said a separate parking consultation is ongoing.

The recommendations were agreed.