To take any questions from members of the the Public

Please note:  Members of the Public are requested to inform the Democratic Servicers Officer before the meeting begins if they wish to ask a verbal question to the Committee.

No questions were asked or had been submitted by members of the public.

No questions were asked or had been submitted by members of the public.

Members are asked to declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests in respect of any item of business to be considered at the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made by councillors regarding items on the Agenda

No declarations of interest were made by councillors regarding items on the Agenda.

The Committee is asked to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 18 February 2016 (attached) and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 February 2016 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 February 2016 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

The Committee is asked to consider if it should be mandatory for licensed Hackney Carriage Vehicles to have the facility for credit/debit card payments

The Committee agreed:

Not to mandate all Epsom and Ewell licenced Hackney Carriages to be fitted with a credit/debit card payment or other cashless payment facility in line with TfL requirements and requested that a report reviewing the outcome of this decision be brought back to this Committee in 12 months’ time.

The Committee received and considered a report in response to Transport for London’s (TfL) announcement that, from October 2016, every licenced London Hackney Carriage would be required to accept card payments.  This was relevant to this Authority because of the dual licensing arrangement with TfL which had been introduced to allow transition from the metropolitan area.   The Committee was being asked to consider whether or not to require all Epsom & Ewell licensed Hackney Carriages to be fitted with a credit/debit card or other cashless payment facility in line with TfL requirements.

The Committee was informed that there were currently 13 dual licenced vehicles.  The Authority had ceased issuing dual licences with effect from 1 January 2014 with the exception of licences issued to existing Hackney Carriage Drivers licenced with the Authority no later than 1 January 2013.

After taking into account the responses received from the consultation and the advice of the Licensing, Grants and Home Improvements Agency Manager, the Committee agreed not to mandate all Epsom and Ewell licenced Hackney Carriages to be fitted with a credit/debit card payment or other cashless payment facility in line with TfL requirements and requested that a report reviewing the implications of this decision be brought back to this Committee in 12 months’ time.

This report asks the Committee to consider the conclusion and recommendation of the Assessment of the Candidate Conservation Area; and that on basis recommends that no further action be taken by the Borough Council

The Committee agreed that:

No further action should be taken with regard to the designation of the area as a Conservation Area but that Officers should investigate which buildings in the area might be appropriately Locally Listed.

The Committee received and considered the conclusion and recommendation of an Assessment as to whether Alexandra Road, Links Road, Ashdown Road, Kingsdown Road and Longdown Road should be designated as a Conservation Area.  The area had originally been assessed in 2009.  This assessment had been carried out, at the Committee’s request, in response to a question from a member of the public at its February 2015 meeting regarding the designation of this area as such.

The assessment was a technical exercise supported by Paragraph 127 of the National Planning Policy Framework and detailed guidance issued by Historic England.  It had been carried out by an independent historic buildings expert who had concluded that, having regard to the advice and guidance issued by Historic England, the area did not display the qualities, attributes and special values which would warrant designation as a Conservation Area under Section 69 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.

The Committee was informed that it was not unusual for areas surrounded by or in close proximity to other Conservation Areas not to be designated as such themselves.  Whilst local residents might support its designation, there was currently no evidence to support this and there was a risk that such a designation could be challenged.  However, the Urban Design and Heritage Advisor who had undertaken the assessment had indicated that there were buildings within the area which might merit further consideration for designation as Locally Listed buildings (a non-statutory designation).

It was noted that concerns regarding development pressures were more properly addressed as part of the planning process.  The Council had recently adopted a Development Management Policy document, which included policies that addressed all of the concerns expressed by residents, and was in the process of finalising Supplementary Guidance which would address issues such as development density and design quality.

Accordingly, the Committee agreed that no further action should be taken with regard to the designation of the area as a Conservation Area but that Officers should investigate which buildings in the area might be considered for Local Listing.  The Planning Policy Manager indicated that he anticipated that it would be possible to report back on the matter in September or October this year and undertook to investigate whether any of the candidate buildings could not be viewed from the public realm and would therefore require a site visit.

This report sets out the Committee’s Performance Management Provisional Targets for 2016/17. 

Having considered its proposed targets for 2016/17, the Committee approved its revised targets as tabled at the meeting subject to amending the word “processed” to read “determined” in regard to business applications and licensing applications.

The Committee received and considered a report which set out its provisional Performance Management Targets for 2016/17.

A revised Annexe was tabled at the meeting which had been amended as follows:

·                     Supporting developers to bring forward the development of town centre sites: the number of minor applications received had been amended to the number of business applications received, to demonstrate the Council’s desire to support local businesses.  This tied into the performance indicator relating to at least 80% of business applications processed within 8 weeks.

·                     Ensuring licenced premises, businesses and individuals and taxi and private hire vehicles remain safe for residents and visitors:  this objective had been amended to read “promoting our borough as an excellent place to do business” and the target had been amended to focus on the timescales for processing premises licences.

The following points were noted:

·                     Each major planning application ought to be supported by a project plan to facilitate its determination within the 13 week timescale;

·                     The Council was required to carry out a Green Belt Study in accordance with established methodologies;

·                     There was a logic to the order in which targets in relation to accommodating sustainable development whilst protecting the green belt in accordance with policy had been listed which mirrored the process map for the work;

·                     The Strategic Housing Market Assessment was a key piece of work

·                     Members considered that the word “processed” in regard to business and licensing applications was not measurable and should be changed to “determined”

Having considered the revised targets tabled at the meeting, the Committee approved these revised targets subject to amending the word “processed” to read “determined” in regard to business applications and licensing applications.