Contact your Parish Council
Should
you wish to refer any decisions contained in these minutes to Policy and
Resources Committee, please submit a Decision Referral Form, signed by three
Councillors, to the Head of Policy, Communications and Governance by:
18 March 2022
MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
STRATEGIC PLANNING AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 8 March 2022
|
Present: |
Councillors Clark, Cooper (Chairman), Garten, Mrs Grigg, Munford, Russell, Spooner and Springett |
|
Also Present: |
Councillor English |
183. Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Councillor McKay.
184. Notification of Substitute Members
There were no Substitute Members.
185. Urgent Items
There were no urgent items.
186. CHANGE TO THE ORDER OF BUSINESS
Item 17 – Local Plan Review Update would be considered after Item 13 – Reports of Outside Bodies, to ensure that the relevant officer was in attendance to introduce the former.
187. Notification of Visiting Members
Councillor English was present as a Visiting Member for Item 15 – Working with the Maidstone Cycle Campaign Forum.
188. Disclosures by Members and Officers
There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.
189. Disclosures of Lobbying
All Committee Members had been lobbied on Item 17 – Local Plan Review Update.
190. EXEMPT ITEMS
RESOLVED: That all items be taken in public as proposed.
191. Minutes of the Meeting Held on 8 February 2022
RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed.
192. Presentation of Petitions
There were no petitions.
193. Question and Answer Session for Members of the Public
There were no questions from members of the public.
194. Questions from Members to the Chairman
There were no questions from Members to the Chairman.
195. Committee Work Programme
It was stated that the bi-annual update on the Section 106 spend-by dates would be carried forward to the next municipal year.
RESOLVED: That the Committee Work Programme be noted.
196. Reports of Outside Bodies
There were no reports of Outside Bodies.
197. Local Plan Review Update
The Strategic Planning Manager introduced the report and drew particular attention to the three ongoing workstreams as part of the Local Plan Review (LPR); the Main Modifications, Duty to Cooperate and Statements of Common Ground (SoCG) and the wider evidence base. The former would include changes proposed by the Local Planning Authority to accompany the LPRs’ submission, alongside the latest SoCG, to be considered at the Committee’s next meeting.
The wider evidence base would support the strategic proposals of the Heathlands and Lidsing Garden Communities and the Invicta Barracks site, and the production of the supporting supplementary planning documents. The updated evidence would include transport modelling runs.
The submission of the Regulation 19 documents had been agreed by Council on 6 October 2021.
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
198. 3rd Quarter Financial Update & Performance Monitoring Report
The Director of Finance and Business Improvement introduced the report and stated that there was a favourable variance of £385,000 within the revenue budget. The income generated through planning applications and building control services was referenced. There had been reduced income generated from pay and display car parks, however the income generated through parking enforcement had increased.
The £355,000 overspend associated with the Local Plan Review (LPR) would be met through the Corporate Contingency Fund, as previously agreed by the Committee. The future funding arrangements for the LPR as recently agreed by full Council were referenced.
The ‘Processing of Planning Applications: Major and Minor applications’ had missed the target by a small margin. An update on the actions within the Committee’s remit as part of the Recovery and Renewal plan was provided.
RESOLVED: That
1. The Revenue position as at the end of Quarter 3 for 2021/22, including the actions being taken or proposed to improve the position, where significant variances have been identified, be noted;
2. The Capital position at the end of Quarter 3 be noted;
3. The Performance position as at Quarter 3 for 2021/22, including the actions being taken or proposed to improve the position, where significant issues have been identified, be noted; and
4. The Recovery and Renewal Update be noted
199. Working with the Maidstone Campaign for Cycling Forum (MCCF)
The Head of Planning and Development introduced the report and stated that the preferred method of engagement between the Council and the Maidstone Cycle Campaign Forum was through the existing reporting mechanism available to Outside Body Representatives.
RESOLVED: That engagement between the Council and the Maidstone Cycle Campaign Forum take place through the normal Council Outside Body mechanism available.
200. Updated S.106 Spend by Date
The CIL Project Officer introduced the report and stated that a total of £469, 000 had been collected through 15 developer contributions across 14 separate Section 106 agreements.
The contributions were ranked by spend by date within appendix 1 to the report. For the projects coded in red, the Council had met with the infrastructure providers to request an update on the respective projects’ commencement alongside a commitment to spend the Section 106 monies. It was made clear that the providers would lose the money if it remained unused. The meetings had led to a better understanding between the two parties, as for example, the Clinical Commissioning Group and Maidstone Parks would not request the money until a scheme had commenced. It was noted that Section 106 monies could not always be spent within the agreed time frame, with projects and priorities often subject to change.
In response to questions, the Head of Planning and Development explained that the Maidstone East and Sutton Valence Medical Centres from the CCG were future projects, known as ‘pipeline projects’, and had been included for information purposes. The Officers were thanked for the work undertaken.
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
201. DURATION OF MEETING
6.30 p.m. to 6.53 p.m.