Agenda item

      Report of the Chief Executive

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate Change, MCI, Economic Development, Heritage, Arts, Tourism and Health & Wellbeing presented a report providing an update on progress of the Future Chippenham programme since the Cabinet decision in July 2022 to pause design work subject to reaching agreement on the revised Grant Determination Agreement (GDA) with Homes England.  

Cabinet received questions from Mel Boyle, Owen Inskip, Nick Parry, Richard Curr, Stewart Roberts, Helen Stride and Cllr Clare Cape in relation to this report, copies which were available to read in agenda supplement 2 on the Council’s website here.

Supplementary questions were asked by Owen Inskip, Helen Stride and Cllr Clare Cape. In response, the Leader and Cllr Botterill made the following comments, a copy of the recording is available at this link:

·       Emphasised that Future Chippenham and the Local Plan were not to be considered as the same issue.

·       The  response to cabinet questions should have included the Leaders designation alongside Cllr Botterill’s not just Cllr Botterill as was published

·        The allocation of sites for development will be determined as part of the Local Plan process

·       The original scheme was achievable subject to the local plan review and timing of key connectivity, however due to the increase in costs and inflation and lack of guaranteed timelines for connectivity risks for the Council have increased and delivery of the scheme is regrettably no longer within the risk appetite of the Council or affordable

·       As had already been confirmed as part of the Local plan review, the Council would be considering the changes to housing need figures from Government going forward

·       Improving connectivity along the A350 is necessary, especially to relieve congestion in Westbury and Melksham areas

·       Infrastructure led development  is the ambition of the Council as that responds to the concerns of communities as new development can if not properly masterplanned  leave them with necessary infrastructure coming along after residential development has taken place

·       Improvements could be made to the consultation process with communities in Chippenham and it was accepted that with the benefit of hindsight consultation in advance of the HIF application being made would have been beneficial.

The Leader reported that following Cabinet’s decision in July 2021 to seek a revision to the GDA with Homes England to support a southern only road route, and then in July 2022 to pause design work, further discussions have been taking place with Homes England. The Council is now in a position to affect a withdrawal from the HIF programme based on the mutually agreed exit from the GDA with Homes England.

The report detailed a high-level options appraisal of the existing 4 options available to the Council for its land holdings in the southern scheme. In order to comply with Cabinet’s resolution of July 2021 and July 2022 the report suggested option 4 should be pursued to promote the land to the South of Chippenham, as follows:

·       to continue working with landowners adjoining the Council’s land holdings to achieve site allocations as part of a master-planned approach for the forthcoming Local Plan review.

Cabinet noted that subject to agreeing to withdrawal from the HIF programme Full Council would be recommended that the unfinanced costs for the programme are funded through future capital receipts, and a capital allocation of £0.500m is sought in the Council’s 2023/24 Capital Programme to progress the work to promote the Council’s site as part of the Local Plan review.

Cllr Botterill outlined the Local Plan process and confirmed that the allocation of housing comes from the Local Plan and is evidence based. He was not able to pre-empt the detail contained in the Local Plan and the two issues needed to be separated. He indicated that the southern scheme would only proceed if the evidence suggested it should, the same as for any other scheme.

Cllr Ian Thorn emphasised the need for residents and campaigners to be heard and suggested that the Council’s record could be improved in this area, along with the impact on communities of decisions made, which should be more open to the public. He also suggested that Homes England would not provide funding unless both the southern and eastern schemes were progressed. 

Cllr Thorn commented on the following:

·       The Councils level of control over the design of the development, subject to Local Plan review.

·       Issues with the scheme should have been identified at an earlier stage  

·       The issues raised during conversations with Homes England

·       The cost of the scheme to council tax payers

In response to comments from Cllr Thorn, the Leader explained that the process started during the leadership of former Leader Cllr Jane Scott. Proposals  to work with other southern land owners will  provide the required evidence to promote sites and achieve masterplanned development as  will be required by the Local Plan development process.  Costs  that are incurred would be financed through an anticipated capital receipt  if the Council disposes of its land interests. Conversations were held with Homes England the Friday before the report was published and the Council received clarity at that stage from Homes England of their position to  support a mutually agreed exit from the GDA.

The Director of Legal and Governance confirmed that Cabinet members did not have any conflicts of interest in making decision on Future Chippenham in this meeting and that they would receive advice in the future when decisions are made about the Local plan review.   

Cllr Christopher Williams, Vice-Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, speaking on behalf of Cllr Jerry Kunkler, Chair of the Environment Select Committee, confirmed that the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Select Committee received a briefing on the report on 12 December 2022.  The briefing considered the reasons for the exit from the GDA and its potential impact upon the scale and timescales of any development. Also considered were the effect of the withdrawal, and the effect of not exiting the agreement, on the council’s finances. The identified options available to Future Chippenham were also discussed. On balance the decisions to mutually exit from the GDA and the recommended option to continue to work with landowners, are ones which the Chairman would support. The select committee would welcome further updates when appropriate.

Cllr Ross Henning commented on his preference for an eastern scheme for Chippenham and was not surprised at the rising costs of the scheme. He asked about the possibility of a relief road to the east of Chippenham. In response, the Leader explained that this was dependent on the Local Plan site allocations and the homes to be developed.

Cllr Helen Belcher commented on the forecast spend in delivering the Future Chippenham programme to date and the request for an additional £500m. In response, the Leader confirmed that the majority of the forecast spend is financed by grant and borrowing, leaving a balance of £1.848m to be financed. The request for £500m would be subject to agreement of Full Council in the forthcoming budget round.

Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling confirmed that any decisions he made on Future Chippenham were based on the information and facts available at the time, and the current report was being considered at this meeting due to the clarity received at a late stage from Homes England.

Resolved:

1. Agree to the Council effecting a withdrawal from the HIF programme based on the mutually agreed exit from the Grant Determination Agreement with Homes England.

2. Agree to delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Resources/Deputy Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council to finalise and enter into any documentation to give effect to the mutually agreed exit.

3. Subject to agreeing to withdrawal from the HIF programme Cabinet refers the recommendation to Full Council that the unfinanced costs for the programme are funded through future capital receipts.

4. Subject to agreeing a withdrawal from the HIF programme Cabinet recommends a budget allocation of £0.500m in 2023/24 to be funded by borrowing to support the work to promote the Council sites in the Local Plan review as part of the Council’s Capital Programme budget setting process

5. Subject to withdrawal from the HIF programme, Cabinet agree to the removal of future HIF programme budgets funded by Grant.

6. Agree to continue to work with landowners to the South of Chippenham adjoining the Council’s land holdings to achieve site allocations for the Council owned sites in the Local Plan review as part of an overall masterplan.

7. Agree to enter into a Legal Agreement to allow access to the Rawlings Farm development via the Council’s land at Darcy Close and the cycleway.

8. Agree to delegate authority to the Corporate Director of
   Resources/Deputy Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council to enter into any such Legal Agreement regarding access to Rawlings Green

Reason for decision:

Following Cabinet’s decision in July 2022 to seek to negotiate an exit from the Grant Determination Agreement for HIF funding where a revised GDA with Homes England or the Local Plan review does not support the Future Chippenham programme proposals, discussions have been taking place with Homes England while design work on the programme has been paused.

A mutually agreed exit from the GDA that reflects the Cabinet decision of July 2022 has been agreed with Homes England and thus this report seeks Cabinet agreement for the Council to affect a withdrawal from the HIF programme based on the terms set out in paragraph 7 of the main report.

This report sets out an appraisal of the options available to the Council at this point in time solely in its capacity as a landowner and is entirely separate from its role as the Local Planning Authority (LPA). Based on that appraisal it is recommended that the Council continues to work with adjoining landowners to the South of Chippenham to masterplan and promote the sites as part of the Local Plan review process.

To enable compliance by the developer of Rawlings Green of the conditions in relation to the access obligations contained within planning permission
(15/12351/OUT).