Issue - meetings

                 Report by Chief Executive Officer – Place – Alistair Cunningham

Cllr Philip Whitehead, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Economic Development introduced the report which provided an update of the Housing Infrastructure Fund scheme to enable the delivery of significant infrastructure works to the east and south of Chippenham.

The Leader reported that the £75m grant is specifically awarded to deliver a new road that unlocks land to support the delivery of 7500 homes in the Chippenham housing market area. The report detailed specific projects that the fund would enable and contained details about the first phase of the programme.

The Cabinet noted that contract negotiations with Homes England had commenced and that the timetable had originally been set for a completion date of September 2020.

The Leader indicated that there would be no public consultation undertaken on the proposals until after the restrictions on public movement in relation to the COVID-19 situation had been lifted by the Government. Therefore, the timetable would need to be revised to take this into account. He also acknowledged that the benefits of the programme outweighed the risks and he was content to proceed with the programme.

The Cabinet heard from Andrew Nicolson who read out a statement and asked questions in relation to the Chippenham Housing Infrastructure Fund bid. The Leader thanked Mr Nicolson for his comments and confirmed that a response had been prepared on the issues raised and a copy had been sent to Mr Nicolson prior to the meeting and also published on the Council’s website

The Leader also referred to statements and questions from the following interested parties:

• Cllr Nick Murry
• Adrian Temple Brown
• Chris Caswill
• Helen Stuckey
• Kim Stuckey
• Louise Ranson
• Lucy Ranson
• Paul Ranson
• Ian James
• Isabel McCord
• Mel Moden

He thanked them for their comments and confirmed that responses had been prepared on the issues raised and copies had been sent to them prior to the meeting and also published on the Council’s website

In response to questions from Cllr Ian Thorn about (i) the risks associated with the programme; (ii) the timescales; and (ii) whether the funding was capital or revenue; the Leader responded that (i) he fully expected the risks to not materialise and that planning permission for the road and allocation of sites for housing to be granted; (ii) timescales would now be difficult to achieve due to the COVID-19 situation and conversations were being held with Homes England about this; and (iii) the funding element was all capital and would only revert to revenue in the event that risks materialise.

In response to a question from Cllr Cape about the Programme Team; The Leader confirmed that the Team consisted of a lead Director and one other full-time officer. The Team also received input from the Communications Team and Atkins – external partners.

Cllr Hubbard urged the Cabinet to make a positive decision on this matter and reminded everyone that if the 7,500 homes were not built in Chippenham then alternative sites in other parts of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44