Decisions

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee held on 26 October 2017 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

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

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

The Committee:-

(1)            Agreed those actions listed under Section 4 of the Epsom & Ewell Planning Improvement Action Plan 2017.

(2)            Noted and endorsed the establishment of a Working Group by the Planning Committee to oversee the implementation of the Plan comprising the Chair of Planning Committee, Chair of Licensing and Planning Committee, Chair of Audit, Crime and Disorder and Scrutiny Committee, the Chief Executive, the Head of Place Development and one additional Member who is not on either of the planning-related committees.

Note:  Councillors Rob Geleit and Tina Mountain requested that their objection to recommendation 2, be recorded.

The Committee noted the content of the latest Regulation 62 report for the year April 2016 until March 2017 to be published on the Council’s website before 31 December 2017.

The Committee:-

(1)            Considered the situation relating to this matter in the wake of the publication of the written Ministerial Statement and recent planning appeal Inspector decision letters; and

(2)            Subject to a minor amendment agreed by the Committee, it was agreed to adopt the Statement on the Exemption of small sites from Development Contribution (Affordable Housing), as the Council’s position on the written Ministerial Statement for deployment in negotiations on developments on small sites and in any associated planning appeals.

The Committee:-

(1)            Agreed to the publication of a Part 1 Brownfield Land Register, and authorised the Head of Place Development to finalise the content of the Register in accordance with the Regulations.

(2)            Agreed that no sites should be included in Part 2 of the Register due to the reasons set out in paragraph 8.1 of the report.

The Committee resolved to exclude the Press and Public from the meeting in accordance with Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that the business involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended) and that pursuant to paragraph 10 of Part 2 of the said Schedule 12A the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Minutes of the Meetings of the Special and Ordinary Meetings of the Strategy and Resources Committee held on 19 September 2017 and 26 September 2017 respectively were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

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

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

The Committee:

(1)          Noted the implications of the Council’s limited VAT recovery position.

(2)          Agreed to the recommendations 1-3 at paragraph 4.9 of this report to mitigate the risk of having to repay in excess of £176,468 of recovered VAT to HMRC.

(3)          Noted that officers will investigate and report back on further actions that may be required at other buildings to improve the Council’s VAT position and mitigate the risk of future repayments. 

The Committee:

(1)          Approved and adopted the proposed new Pay & Performance scheme set out in Annexe 4 for implementation from April 2018;

(2)          Agreed that the proposed new Pay & Performance scheme be phased in over two financial years as follows:

a)            No cost of living increase across the board or performance pay to be made in 2018/19 and

b)            the Bonus A scheme be discontinued from the end of 2017/18 financial year;

Annual Progression on a 9 point scale be introduced in 2018/19 with assimilation from 20 Market Anchors to 12 Market Anchors;

c)            All employees on SCP 9 be awarded a one off 1% (consolidated) plus a one off 1% non-consolidated payment in April 2018;

d)            1% be paid across the board to all employees in 2019/20 (an increase from the proposed 0.5%)

(3)          the National Joint Council (NJC), Local Government Single Status job evaluation scheme (Green Book) be adopted.

(4)          the additional £64k for 2018/19 and £78k for 2019/20 to be found from within existing budgets

The Committee:-

(1)          Received the External Audit Progress Report

(2)          Received the Annual Audit Letter

The Committee recommended that the Council consider the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel.

The Committee agreed to write off a debt totalling £21,254.67 in relation to Business Rates.

The Committee agreed:

(1)          That the Council should acquire the use of 24 additional units at Defoe Court, 87 East Street from Sanctuary Housing Association for use as temporary accommodation subject to negotiation and the identification of savings in the annual cost of nightly paid emergency temporary accommodation;

(2)          That the method of acquiring the units and negotiating the cost including the management of the units and any service charge be delegated to the Head of Housing and Community in consultation with the Chairman of the Strategy and Resources Committee and the Section 151 Officer, Head of Property and Regeneration and the Chief Legal Officer.

The Committee agreed a way forward as set out in the Minutes.

Note:  The details are considered officially sensitive at this time and the Minute for this item will be exempt from publication.

The Committee agreed to write off the sum of £374,498.27

The Committee:

(1)          Received the current position and progress on the planned maintenance programme;

(2)          Noted changes made to the programme under delegated authority.

This item was withdrawn

The Committee agreed that:

(1)          Borough Insight should continue as a printed magazine delivered to households and venues in the Borough three times a year.

(2)          The Council continues to produce e-Borough Insight in-house and continues to endeavour to increase views and subscription numbers.

(3)          The above to be produced within an annual budget of £27,000