A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Council and councillors

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Catmose, Oakham

Contact: Joanna Morley  01572 758271

Items
No. Item

442.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Jones. Councillor Oxley attended on her behalf.

 

443.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Act 1992 applies to them.

Minutes:

Councillor Payne declared an interest as her husband was an employer of 120 people in Rutland. The Monitoring Officer had advised Councillor Payne that this was not a pecuniary interest but that it would be wise to declare it for the purposes of transparency.

 

444.

PETITIONS, DEPUTATIONS AND QUESTIONS pdf icon PDF 188 KB

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 216.

 

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received. Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

 

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes of the total time for 30 minutes. Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The following questions and deputations were presented to the Committee.

 

Question with notice

 

Mr Richard Drabble, resident of Whissendine, asked a question about the historical landscape at Whissendine. The Chair read out a reply prepared by officers and asked that Mr Drabble email officers with any questions of clarification he might have. The text of the question and the response is appended to the minutes.

 

Deputations

 

1.    Mr Gareth Jones presented a deputation (appended to the minutes) on behalf of himself and Julie Grey, residents of Edith Weston. The Committee did not have any questions for Mr Jones.

 

2.    Mr Tim Smith presented a deputation (appended to the minutes) on behalf of himself and Neil Newton, residents of Edith Weston and North Luffenham. The Committee did not have any questions for Mr Smith.

.

 

Questions with short notice

 

3.    A question with short notice (appended to the minutes) was asked by Mr Norman Milne, Edith Weston Parish Councillor

 

As the question was one of process, the Chair asked the Chief Executive to respond to the question.  Mrs Briggs, Chief Executive, responded that Scrutiny papers had been published in line with the statutory requirements of five clear working days. The decision to adopt regulation 19 of the Local Plan was a decision of Council, not an Executive decision and therefore the Constitution did not require it to go through the Scrutiny process. The Council meeting to debate the Local Plan was being held on the 27 January and the same supporting papers would form the Council agenda pack. Therefore Councillors would have had 18 days to read the papers including 12 clear working days and three weekends which was more than double the statutory requirement.

 

445.

QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE FROM MEMBERS

To consider any questions with notice from Members received in accordance with the provisions of Procedure rule No. 218 and No. 218A.

Minutes:

No questions with notice from Members had been received.

446.

RUTLAND LOCAL PLAN pdf icon PDF 126 KB

To receive Report No.17/2020 from the Strategic Director for Places.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No.17/2020 was received from the Strategic Director for Places. Mr Gordon Brown, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Environment, Finance, Planning and Property introduced the report the purpose of which was to update the Scrutiny Committee on progress with the preparation of the Local Plan, and provide an opportunity for the Committee to make comments prior to consideration of the Pre-Submission version of the Local Plan by Cabinet and full Council.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

·         The Local Plan had been a document long in the making. Three stages of consultation had already taken place on the Local Plan through the Issues and Options in 2015, the Consultation Draft in 2017 and the focussed consultations in 2018 regarding additional sites promoted for development, as well as a tailored consultation regarding the implications of incorporating the proposed garden community at St. George’s into the Local Plan.

·         In August 2018, 45 minutes before the consultation was due to close, the Woolfox proposal was received which meant that in order to give the proposal due consideration the Council carried on with its work on the Local Plan until the end of 2019.

·         Councillor Brown pointed out to Members that the Plan was not just about the allocation of sites for housing but also about the policies which looked at the design of houses, the use of materials and other aspects that would affect climate change.

·         Councillor Begy had a number of questions which he asked in the meeting and to which Councillor Brown, the Portfolio Holder responded. Councillor Begy’s questions and the responses, prepared by officers, are appended to the minutes.

·         In response to a question on whether the St George’s Barracks site would significantly increase traffic if it just became a commuter village with residents driving outside the County to work, the Leader of the Council made clear that there would be new employment opportunities, facilities and design strategies to encourage working from home. One of the advantages of the HIF monies was that it could be used to subsidise public transport and a traffic sub-group would be looking at ways to encourage people to use public transport more.

·         Section 10 of the Plan, the monitoring framework, would be looking at the implications for the Council if the MOD adjusted its ‘moving out’ dates.

·         Councillor Coleman asked what the repercussions were for Rutland if the Council did not deliver the St George’s Barracks site. Councillor Brown, in response, handed the committee copies of a letter (appended to the minutes) from Gavin Williamson the then Secretary of State for Defence. The letter highlighted that when the MOD vacated a site of this sort there was a presumption in favour of housing development which, in normal circumstances, would lead to the sale of land to a developer whose only constraints would be broader planning and building control rules and would therefore lead to a higher number of homes being built.

·         A map of the proposed Woolfox site is appended to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 446.