Agenda item

Cabinet RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL to;

1.     Approve the release of 20% (£3,027,519) of CIL core funds collected to the end of financial year 2021/22 and allocate this towards the delivery of priority infrastructure projects in advance of the Local Plan;

2.     Approve the proposed revised framework for assessing projects, including the amended Terms of Reference of the Infrastructure Advisory Group detailed in the report.

Cabinet agreed;

The recommendations of the Infrastructure Advisory Group on the first round of projects set out in section 5 of the report and determines which, if any, projects should receive Core CIL funding.

Decision

Cabinet RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL to;

1. Approve the release of 20% (£3,027,519) of CIL core funds collected to the end of financial year 2021/22 and allocate this towards the delivery of priority infrastructure projects in advance of the Local Plan;
2. Approve the proposed revised framework for assessing projects, including the amended Terms of Reference of the Infrastructure Advisory Group detailed in the report.

Cabinet agreed;

3. The recommendations of the Infrastructure Advisory Group on the first round of projects set out in section 5 of the report and determines which, if any, projects should receive Core CIL funding.

Corporate Priorities

A clean, safe and enjoyable environment

Building strong and vibrant communities

Ensuring economic growth and prosperity

Providing good quality affordable homes, in particular for those most in need

Ensuring efficient, effective and modern service delivery

Climate and ecological emergency

Statutory Officer Comments:

Monitoring Officer:

Effective governance procedures are essential to ensure that CIL funds can be allocated to appropriate infrastructure in a timely and efficient manner and that spend is properly monitored. The previous governance framework was agreed by Council in January 2017 on recommendation of Cabinet and therefore a Council decision is required to amend the framework and approve the current projects set out in section 5.

If the new framework is agreed, future spending decisions will be able to be made by Cabinet without referral to Council.

S151 Officer:

The proposal to allocate core CIL to support local infrastructure requirements is in line with the core principle of CIL. The decision to allocate a small percentage of CIL collected up to the end of 21/22 reflects the length of delay in the development of the current local plan, and the IAG governance will assess each project bid against the core Infrastructure development requirements with a strong reflection on the proportion of investment in each geographical settlement area, to reflect infrastructure requirements and wider population need.

Advice

Cllr Anderson introduced the report, advising that IAG met recently and suggested we make some changes to the recommendations, to take forward 1 of the playground schemes, rather than both, as both constitute £1.3m which is a large sum relative to the amount we are looking to release.  Also feel strongly that we need to signal our intention to support the scheme to works at Long Marston Village Hall.  The IAG recommendation was that more detail was required as part of the Long Marston bid; would ask Cabinet colleagues to show our intention of support to Long Marston in them doing so.

Cllr Barrett commented that it would be useful to know what playgrounds are being proposed.  Could that information please be provided?

Cllr Anderson commented that officer resource would be required to deliver the playground project.

CHamilton commented that the principal of needing resource to deliver projects is a reasonable one, suggesting this could this come back to the relevant Portfolio Holder for sign off before it moves forward.

Cllr Williams suggested agreement to the schemes in this first phase, with further discussion between Portfolio Holder and Officers to ensure the funds are being spent in the correct place.

Cllr Williams advised that the IAG felt that the Long Marston bid was not robust enough and commented that it is asking a lot of them to upgrade their business case and it will give them some comfort to know that the effort they will need to put into that work will be time well spent.

JDoe raised a procedural point that this report will go on to Council so will need to pin down exactly what is in this proposed first phase ahead of the Council meeting on 22^nd February.

Cllr Williams asked for confirmation that this is not a Council decision but a Cabinet one?

NHowcutt advised that the recommendation to change the process needs to go to Council and the recommendation in this report is to do so.  Moving forward individual application expenditures will be decided at Cabinet level. 

Cllr Barrett sought clarification; are agreeing this is how we are going to proceed in future as per the recommendations set out in this report, and then secondary to that reviewing the current bids?

Cllr Williams confirmed.

Cllr Barrett added his backing to the proposal to show support to Long Marston.

Cllr Elliot asked; what will that business plan consist of? 

Cllr Andrews responded that the biggest issue for us is the funding we are putting in is not all they need, so we need assurance they can get the other resource required to deliver the project; they need to how that will be met through income of the hall and other funding, so we are reassured that we will not be putting £250k into a project that cannot be completed.

Cllr Williams concluded the proposal that recommendations as set out are agreed and a steer will be given on what bids are to go forward, reiterating the need to ensure that what is going to Council next week sets this out clearly.

RECOMMENDATIONS AGREED