Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the Committee for the forthcoming year.

Resolved:

To appoint Councillor Peter Edge as Chairman of the Environment Select Committee for the forthcoming year.

To elect a Vice-Chairman for the Committee for the forthcoming year.

Resolved:

To appoint Councillor Bridget Wayman as Vice-Chairman of the Environment Select Committee for the forthcoming year.

Resolved:

To appoint Councillor Tony Deane as Chairman of the Environment Select Committee for this meeting only.

To note any changes to Membership of the Committee following the meeting of Council on 13 May 2014.

It was noted that following the meeting of Council on 13 May 2014 there had been the following changes to membership of the Committee:

Removed as Full Members: Councillors Alan Hill, Horace Prickett, Rosemary Brown

Added as Full Members: Councillors Jacqui Lay, Christopher Newbury, Linda Packard

Removed as Substitute: Councillors Nick Watts, Jacqui Lay, Stephen Oldrieve and Christopher Newbury

Added as Substitute: Councillors Trevor Carbin and Rosemary Brown

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillors Peter Edge, Bridget Wayman, Christopher Newbury and Linda Packard.

Councillor Edge was substituted by Councillor Rosemary Brown.

Councillor Wayman was substituted by Councillor Tony Deane.

Councillor Newbury was substituted by Councillor Phillip Whalley.

Councillor Packard was substituted by Councillor Bob Jones MBE.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Environment Select Committee meeting held on 15 April 2014.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 April were presented for consideration, and after discussion it was,

Resolved:

To approve as a true and correct record and sign the minutes.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

There were no announcements.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item.  Please contact the officer named above for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named above no later than 5pm on Tuesday 3 June. Please contact the officer named on the first page of this agenda for further advice.  Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

There were no statements or questions submitted.

Alistair Cunningham, Associate Director (Economic Development and Planning Services) will provide an update on the progression of the Wiltshire Core Strategy.

The Wiltshire Core Strategy, in development since 2009, is intended to set out the largest part of the Local Development Framework for Wiltshire, a series of policy documents setting out the council’s spatial vision, key objectives and the overall principles for development in the county, including location of strategic sites for new housing and employment development and the policies with which planning applications will be assessed.

Following consideration by the Environment Select Committee on 11 June 2012, the Core Strategy was approved by Council on 26 June 2012 for submission to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for formal examination. The examination in public by a Planning Inspector took place between May and July 2013, and a consultation on proposed modifications concluded in October 2013. This was followed by a procedural letter from the Inspector setting out six matters with the Core Strategy which they felt required further modifications in December 2013.

The Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, Development Management, Strategic Housing, Property, Waste, Councillor Toby Sturgis, delivered an update on the continued progression of the Wiltshire Core Strategy along with the Spatial Planning Economy Manager.

It was stated that following additional modifications to address the comments of the Inspector, a further 700 comments had been received on the new consultation that was required as a result. These included comments on wind turbines, allocation of housing in specific towns, the updated housing requirements county wide, proposed bypasses in certain locations and the development of neighbourhood plans. It was intended that the Council’s response and proposals would be forwarded back to the Inspector by the end of June 2013, who could request further comment or modifications if deemed necessary.

The Committee then questioned the Cabinet Member and Officer on aspects of the Core Strategy and the process of its adoption. There were some concerns raised about the highly technical nature of some of the officer comments sent to Parish Councils for comment which made it difficult at times to understand, and that future consultations could perhaps include frequent summary sections in plain language to clarify matters. In response it was stated that every attempt was made to simplify the language used, although some use of complex technical language was unavoidable, with requests for Parishes to contact their Wiltshire Councillor or the officers for assistance if certain sections were hard to understand.

There were queries on the status of the South Wiltshire Core Strategy which was in place while the proposed Core Strategy for the whole county was un-adopted, and the need for the council to robustly defend planning decisions made on this and other extant policy documents, although it was noted that the National Planning Policy Framework was a more recent national policy document, which might be given more weight by an Inspector during an appeal.

There were additional queries and comments on neighbourhood plans permitting some limited development to meet local needs of housing and employment in villages if they established that need in their plans,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

Written updates on Environment Select Committee Task Group activity are attached.

Additional verbal updates may be provided.

The Committee considered written updates from established Task Groups as detailed in the agenda pack.

There were additional comments on the following Task Groups:

Adoptable Estates - It was noted that there had been great difficulty in meeting with developers to discuss the matters raised, which would be detailed further once the Task Group made its final report.

Highways and Streetscene - A meeting had been set for 25 June to specifically consider the grass cutting section of the contract in light of recent and continuing problems with that aspect of the contract, with the entirety of the contract to be assessed at a later date. It was confirmed all members would be invited to make contributions to the considerations of the Task Group.

20mph Task Group - Clarification was sought on the number of 20mph zones that each Area Board could designate, 2 per year, as well as issues on repeater signage in zones, and natural highway speed limitations impacting more on average speeds than the imposition of a restricted speed zone in an area which might not be appropriate for it.

Waste - It was confirmed that as requested at its meeting on 10 December 2013, a further meeting had been made with Dr Alberry, who had delivered a presentation to the Task Group, and the possibility of looking into the Green waste policy was noted.

Dr Carlton Brand, Corporate Director, noted that there was a lot of work being undertaken in the Waste Service which the Task Group could assist with and welcomed their continued and future involvement.

To note and receive updates on the progress of items on the forward work programme.

Under the revised Overview and Scrutiny (OS) arrangements there is now a single OS work programme controlled by the OS Management Committee, linked to priorities in the Business Plan.

Therefore it should be noted that, whilst any matters added by Members are welcome, they will be referred to the OS Management Committee for approval before formal inclusion in the work programme for the Environment Select Committee.

A copy of the Overview and Scrutiny Forward Work Programme for the Environment Select Committee is attached for reference.

The existing Forward Plan was noted, and it was agreed that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman should meet with Cabinet Members and Associate Directors to identify future outcomes and policies which scrutiny involvement could contribute to in the next year.

To confirm the date of the next scheduled meeting as 2 September 2014.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 2 September 2014.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

A question was raised about whether the Gypsy and Traveller Plan should be considered at the Committee.