Councillor Begy, Vice-Chairman of the Council, welcomed everyone, explaining that Councillor Dale had been unable to make the meeting and had sent his apologies.

Other than Councillor Dale’s apologies no others had been received.

The minutes of the previous meetings that took place on 28^th June and 23^rd August, 2021 were confirmed as an accurate record.

There were two matters arising, firstly the update on the Special Council Meeting held on 1 September 2021 and secondly the future of the Parish forum which would be covered separately in one of the main items. 

Mark Andrews explained that the Special council Meeting held on 1 September regarding the Local Plan considered the option of whether to adopt the Local Plan.

·         Agreed to withdrawal of existing local Plan.

·         Agreed to move forward with development of a new Local Plan.

·         Aware of issues and risks while no Local Plan in force.

·         Council agreed to resource the new Local Plan.

·         Major factor will be the collection of new evidence.

Following the briefing Parish and Town Councils were given the opportunity to ask questions.

·         Cliff Bacon (Clipsham Parish Meeting)

1.    There were several local retired residents, experience at Director level in Local Government, particularly in the areas of planning and working with neighbouring authorities. Could they be used as advisors/mentors on the revised Local Plan to speed things up.

2.    There had been a report in the Rutland & Stamford Mercury stating that the Reg 19 Plan would have to be “torn up and started again” which he thought was misleading and suggested that roughly 60% of the Reg 19 Local Plan could remain as is, and approximately 40% would need major modifications.  The article mentioned the timescales and costs which he believed could be substantially reduced.

3.    For the public benefit, a written brief was requested to explain the stages and timescales for the way forward on the creation of the modified plan.

·         Mark Andrews responded:

1.    Additional director resource/mentors are not a requirement at this stage, it was the renewal of the evidence base that is critical in terms of resourcing. 

2.    In terms of costs, £1.4M cost is not the total cost for developing the plan, it is only part of the costs, part of the associated costs of operating without a Local Plan in place.

3.    We will bring report to Council with a more detailed plan about the stages involved in the development of the new Local Plan.

·         Christopher Renner (Normanton Parish Meeting)

·           Requested information about the timescales for forming a cross-party working group. 

·           This was being sorted and group leaders had already been engaged, this will be formally agreed at Oct council. 

·              Asked about Central Government’s timescales that might be imposed.  As yet there was no current estimate of timings, although originally suggested autumn but it was agreed to keep parishes informed of developments.

Jennifer Maskell (Langham Parish Council)

·              Could there be encouragement for work development for business and then have housing at St George’s – is it being considered? 

·              Mark Andrews explained that without a Local Plan MOD/DIO would consider their next move, which would be factored into a new Local Plan.

a)         Adults and Health Scrutiny – Rutland Place Based Plan

The Chairman introduced Phil Horsfield to provide a short briefing on the Rutland Place Based Plan.  Firstly, he stressed that the role of Scrutiny did not allow it to decide on matters, it is there purely to consider and feedback views into a process.  He then covered:

·         The outline timetable for the strategy

·         The Plan incorporates the old Rutland Health and Wellbeing Strategy. 

·         Strategy not updated during pandemic with staff being diverted on front line tasks.  Plan allows for incorporation of lessons learned during pandemic. 

·         CCG leading.  RCC a main partner alongside GPs and the 3^rd sector.

·         Consultation has taken place and will continue with public, other stakeholders and Healthwatch Rutland.  Report available on their website and in the Future Rutland Conversation.

Mark Andrews confirmed that CCG have committed to further engagement, highlighting importance of scrutiny in the process, and getting parishes involved.  The plan would be discussed at Scrutiny and there is still opportunity for parishes to participate.

Phil Horsfield covered the submissions of deputations/questions for scrutiny, and drew parishes attention to the forward plan which is available at:  https://rutlandcounty.moderngov.co.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=133&RD=0

b)        Reviewof theStructureand Format of Parish CouncilForums

The Chairman introduced Mark Andrews who provided an introduction and explanation of where plans currently were.  He introduced Jake Atkinson, Chief Executive of LRALC who provided a presentation about best practice across the region and discuss potential ways forward.  A copy of the presentation is attached.

• Mark Andrews suggested parishes reflect on the presentation and consider it in relation to the future of the Forum.
• Will then work with current agenda setting group to draw up recommendations and send to all parishes to comment on before moving forward.
• Monthly meetings too frequent, and often clashed existing Parish meetings. 
• Quarterly better.
• Annoyance about Parish Meetings being treated as Parish Councils and that status of Parish Meetings needed to be better understood.
• Operational meetings useful for Parish Clerks and could be held during normal working hours which would further alleviate disruption to calendars.

Nil.

Given the discussions about the future of the forum it was decided to put the items below on hold pending the revised meeting dates going forward.

·         Unpaid work as part of a Community Order

·         Highways andTransportWorking Group process– Speeding

·         Updatefromthe Scrutiny CommissionChair

·         Review of parking strategy

·         County Lines

Mark Andrews then clarified the next steps:

·         Email the presentation from LRALC out to all parishes.

·         Comments and feedback to Jerry Barnes at elections@rutland.gov.uk by 17 September 2021.

·         Agenda setting meeting for 8 September to be re-scheduled along with the calendar of meetings in line with the new proposals.

·         Formulate plan with current agenda setting group and feedback to parishes for further input.

·         Initial thought being based around reduction in number of meetings and some meetings at operational level for Parish Clerks.

Jeremy Orme (Hambleton Parish Meeting)

·         Requested update on timings on the next steps of the councils review of its parking strategy. 

o   Response from Senior Transport Manager:  Strategy scheduled to go to Cabinet on 16^th November 2021 and subject to the outcome of the meeting there will be a period of public consultation afterwards of approximately 4 -6 weeks.

The previously arranged meeting calendar would now be re-visited once a revised plan had been made for the Parish Forum and new meeting dates would be issued in due course.  Please note that the next two planned meeting will no longer take place in light of the move towards fewer meetings, and it is likely that the next meeting will be on Monday, 6^th December 2021 at 7pm and this will be left in diaries and the others will be cancelled pending a revised schedule of meetings.

Potentialagendaitemsfor theParishCouncilForum shouldbe emailedto  elections@rutland.gov.uk.