Agenda, decisions and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the District Executive meeting held on 1^st March 2018.

Councillor Angie Singleton asked for clarification on minute 132 - South Somerset District Council Car Park Charging Policy Paper, where Councillor Mike Lewis had asked that a monthly analysis of car parking income be kept from now on as a statistical analysis of the usage of car parks.  The Chairman advised that provided the income per car parking ticket machine could be made available, he did not intend to expend additional officer time in collecting the data.

The minutes of the District Executive meeting held on 1^st March 2018, copies of which had been circulated, were taken as read and, having been approved as a correct record, were signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Peter Seib and Alex Parmley, Chief Executive.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

Members are reminded that they need to declare the fact that they are also a member of a County, Town or Parish Council as a Personal Interest. Where you are also a member of Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council within South Somerset you must declare a prejudicial interest in any business on the agenda where there is a financial benefit or gain or advantage to Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council which would be at the cost or to the financial disadvantage of South Somerset District Council. 

There were no declarations of interest made by members.

There were no members of the public present at the meeting.

The Chairman advised that Paula Hewitt of Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) would be speaking to members after the conclusion of the District Executive meeting on the broadband programme.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment, Economic Development and Transformation introduced the report and noted that the project was on track and on budget to deliver the expected benefits.  She advised that staff in Phases 2 and 3 were currently going through their selection interviews and asked that Members took account of this when contacting them. 

The Strategic Lead for Transformation advised that she had attended the Scrutiny Committee meeting and answered Members questions on Area Working and addressed their concerns that the determination of planning applications would remain with the Area Committees.  She said balancing business as usual with Transformation would be difficult as Phases 2 and 3 staff were going through their selection interviews and a report on this had been drawn up by SWAP and would be reported to the Strategic Leadership Team the following week. 

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee thanked the Strategic Lead for Transformation for attending their meeting and answering the Committee’s questions on the report.  It was noted they had raised a number of questions around unfilled posts in Phase 1, staff workloads and contact with local Town and Parish Councils – members were concerned that some councils had mentioned that Transformation seemed to be being used as an excuse for delays in responding to queries within some departments.

The Chairman advised that an experienced chief planning officer had been recruited on a 3 month contract to provide support to the planning service.  It was confirmed that he had previously worked for the Planning Advisory Service and would be attending all the Area Committee meetings. 

It was also confirmed that the Council were hoping to recruit an HR Specialist very shortly.

During discussion, it was noted that Members could help to be a contact between their Town and Parish Councils at this time. 

At the conclusion of the debate, Members were content to note the progress of the Transformation Programme.

The Portfolio Holder for Property, Climate Change and Income Generation introduced the report and advised that the new policy would bring asset disposals in line with the procurement of assets.  It also included a measure that the council’s assets were making a return on the investment in the future. 

The Director for Commercial Services and Income Generation advised that following approval of the Council’s Commercial Strategy the previous year, it was realised that other policies did not align with it.  Although the policy allowed delegated authority to purchase investment assets up to £10m, it did not allow their sale.  She also noted that the Area Chairmen would be consulted during any asset disposal process.

The Commercial Property, Land and Development Manager advised that the Council’s Property Development Managers would be assessing the Council’s land assets over the next 2 years and would be recommending the disposal of small non-strategic land holdings. The policy now allowed community groups to approach SSDC to purchase a freehold as well as a leasehold of an asset and there was a business case template provided to allow them to submit a case for a community asset transfer to them from SSDC. 

During discussion, it was noted that:-

·         Any asset already identified for disposal would continue under the current policy.

·         The property team would contact the Ward Member and Area Chairman and ask for their comments on any proposed asset disposal which would be included in the report to the Disposal Assessment Group. 

·         Although a majority vote of approval was required from the Disposal Assessment Group, the Section 151 and Monitoring Officers had the power of veto.

·         The disposal of investment properties up to a value of £10m did not include any SSDC Council offices as they were classed as non-investment properties and any proposed disposal of them would require a separate report to District Executive.

·         At the current time, only the Marks and Spencer building and the Wilco building were valued as large investment properties under £10m and SSDC currently hold around 17 properties classed as investment properties.

·         A large number of the SSDC land holdings were small strips of land, small garages or houses worth less than £250,000.

·         Once the policy was approved then the Town and Parish Councils would be notified. 

·         SSDC now had 3 qualified surveyors capable of valuing land and property assets, however, if it was proposed to dispose of a large asset then independent advice would be sought to clarify market value to ensure transparency and independence in accordance with any audit or RICS requirements.

Members expressed concern at the weight given to the Area Chairman and Ward Members comments in the report to the Disposal Assessment Group and it was agreed to re-word the disposals approval process and include the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Legal Services in the consultation process.  It was noted that any disposal that fell outside of policy would be referred through the District Executive process and that the CEO in consultation with the Leader  ...  view the full minutes text for item 145.

The following addition to the Forward Plan was noted:

·           Regeneration Priority Schemes (Confidential) – May 2018

The Chairman noted that the Draft revised National Planning Policy Framework and the Supporting housing delivery through developer contributions consultation responses were important and he asked that the draft responses be included in the next District Executive agenda for information.

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the District Executive would take place on Thursday 3^rd May 2018 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 9.30 a.m.