Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Amanda Broom, John Clark, Nick Colbert, Henry Hobhouse, Jenny Kenton, Sarah Lindsay, Paul Maxwell, Sam McAllister, Graham Middleton, Stephen Page, Ric Pallister, Wes Read and Alan Smith.

To approve and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday, 13^th October 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13^th October 2016, copies of which had been previously circulated, were approved as a correct record of the meeting and signed by the Chairman, subject to the following amendment:

Minute 59: Medium Term Financial Strategy and Plan – Four Year Settlement – voting amended to 47 in favour, 2 against, 0 abstentions. 

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), 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. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct. A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9.

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.  As a result of the change made to the Code of Conduct by this Council at its meeting on 15th May 2014, 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.  If you have a prejudicial interest you must comply with paragraphs 2.9(b) and 2.9(c) of the Code.

Councillor Mike Lock declared a personal interest in Agenda item 7, South Somerset Community Infrastructure Levy, as a building contractor who may be subject to the charge in the future.

There were no questions from members of the public present.

The Chairman reminded Members of their Christmas meal to be held on Thursday 15^th December and encouraged them to attend.

The list of Chairman’s Engagements was noted.

(Voting: 33 in favour, 12 against, 2 abstentions)

The Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning (Place Making) reminded Members that they had agreed the draft CIL Charging Schedule for consultation in February and again in May following two minor modifications.  The Examiner had then confirmed the Schedule with no changes.  She thanked the spatial policy officers for their work in bringing the CIL Charging Schedule forward, and the other departments of legal, finance and economic development who had also assisted.    

In response to questions from Members, the Principal Spatial Planner advised:-

·         Flood mitigation for the Yeovil Sustainable Urban Extensions would be met through the Section 106 Agreements which would accompany these sites.

·         The impact of CIL on the viability of development sites had been discussed with developers and they were not overly concerned at the charge.  They were in favour of the proposed instalment policy

·         The Regulation 123 list was agreed by District Executive and discussed at the Examination by the Inspector.  It defined the type of infrastructure which the Council wished to promote but the detail of implementation was still to be agreed.

·         The 5% of CIL receipts set for administration was regulated and could not be altered locally. 

·         The proposed Urban Extensions were exempt from CIL but they would have specific S106 Agreements and if a scheme was expanded then further mitigation would be required and so the S106 Agreement would be upgraded accordingly.

At the conclusion of a short debate, the majority of Members were content to confirm approval of the Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedule.

(Voting: 32 in favour, 12 against, 2 abstentions)

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The Portfolio Holder for Democratic Services advised that this was the final report to confirm the increase in Parish Councillors for Yeovilton Parish Council.

There was no debate and Members were content to confirm the recommendations of the report.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

(Voting: 46 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)

The Portfolio Holder for Democratic Services advised that although some may have reservations at the low response to the consultation, it was difficult to engage the public to respond to something which would not affect them directly.  She noted this was only the initial consultation and a further report would be presented.  

There was no debate and Members were content to confirm the recommendations of the report.

(Voting: 45 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

In response to a question, the Assistant Director (Legal and Corporate Services) confirmed that the Standards Committee was still in existence. 

There was no debate and Members were content to confirm the recommendations of the report. 

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

The report of Executive Decisions was noted.

There has been no meeting of the Audit Committee since the last Full Council meeting in October 2016.

It was noted that there had been no meeting of the Audit Committee since the last Council meeting.

Councillor Sue Steele, Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, welcomed Councillor Linda Vijeh to the committee and thanked Members for their work on the Task and Finish Groups currently in operation.

There were no questions and the report of the Scrutiny Committee was noted.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

Councillor Mike Beech drew Members attention to the amended wording of his Motion which had been circulated prior to the meeting.  He said that he had proposed it as the £640,000 earmarked for the Connecting Devon and Somerset Broadband scheme remained unallocated and he was concerned that rural areas and businesses may miss out on broadband connection otherwise.

The Deputy Leader welcomed the Motion as she said the Council was keen to progress broadband connection across the district. 

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Legal Services also voiced his support for the Motion and, there being no other debate, Members unanimously confirmed the Motion.

(Voting: unanimous in favour)

Councillor Derek Yeomans had submitted the following question under Procedure Rule 10:

The radical change entailed in Yarlington's planned cessation of continued provision and building of social housing will have a major impact on our conjoint cross District present and future housing policies.  It will create a long term foreseeable reduction in the availability of accommodation to service our housing waiting list and the probable delegation of the P2i accommodation responsibility to the District Councils. What steps will SSDC be taking to mitigate these problems?

He confirmed that he would be happy to receive a written response to his question and the Deputy Leader agreed to circulate the response to all Members. 

Response

Yarlington Housing Group continue to build new social housing, although currently they have only nine properties under construction in this district. For the past twenty years the District has appointed a small group of partner Housing Associations to work on the overall programme in order to avoid over reliance on any one particular Association – the last review was completed early in 2015 in partnership with Mendip District Council.  Under the current programme four different housing associations will provide 128 new homes and other schemes are in the pipeline although yet to be confirmed. In addition it is estimated that there are just over 650 vacancies arising from within the existing social housing stock in the district in a typical year.

The changes in the P2i contract have been instigated by the County Council and, despite the best advice from district council officers, are due to commence on 1^st January. The County cannot delegate it’s responsibilities under the Childrens’ Act, this council, alongside the other districts, continues to work with the County on those cases where there is also a potential responsibility under the homelessness legislation.  Our officers are currently providing support to the new contractor, Mendip YMCA, to assist them to secure suitable accommodation in an unenviable timeframe.

Members noted that unless there was any urgent business to conduct in the meantime, the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council due on Thursday, 8^th December 2016 would be cancelled. 

Therefore, unless notified to the contrary, the next scheduled meeting of the Full Council would take place on Thursday 19^th January 2017 in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil commencing at 7.30 p.m.