Agenda and minutes

-           to record the opening of e-tenders.

Resolved:-  That the action of the Cabinet Member, on 29^th September, 2009, in opening the following tenders be recorded:-

-     Procurement of Workwear and Protective Clothing, Environment and Development Services Directorate

Emma Bridge, Policy Officer, to report.

-           to consider release of LABGI allocations.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Policy Officer, which updated the Cabinet Member on spending against the £25,000 LABGI funding allocated for Sustainability initiatives.

The report also sought approval of further spend against this budget.    Details of the six proposed projects for further sustainability funding were set out in the Appendix to the submitted report.

Consideration was also given to the allocation of the remainder of the funding and it was proposed that this should be allocated to the Sustainability Partnership.

Resolved:-  That £20,800 of LAGBI funding for Sustainability be released for use against the six projects listed in the report now submitted, with the remainder being allocated to the Sustainability Partnership.

Nigel Hancock, Planning Improvement Manager, to report.

-           to consider the document.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Planning Improvement Manager, detailing the Council’s response to the Government’s recently published consultation paper on publicity for planning applications.  It was noted that the deadline for submission of responses was 23rd October, 2009.

Attention was drawn to the key issues raised by the four questions being consulted upon.

It was confirmed that the Council already published this information on its website and also had adopted the period of 21 days.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the report be noted and the responses suggested to each question be agreed.

Nigel Hancock, Planning Improvement Manager, to report,

-           to consider the consultation document.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Planning Improvement Manager, detailing the proposed Council’s response to the Government’s recently published consultation paper on streamlining information requirements for planning applications.  It was noted that the deadline for submission of responses was 23rd October, 2009.

Attention was drawn to the twelve questions being consulted upon and it was pointed out that the key issue insofar as the Council was concerned related to the Government’s suggestion that each Local Authority for each type of application should set relevant map scales and plans.  It was noted that the Council’s response would suggest that a national standard would be more helpful.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the report be noted and the responses suggested to each question be agreed.

Nigel Hancock, Planning Improvement Manager, to report.

-           to consider the consultation document.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Planning Improvement Manager, detailing the Council’s proposed response to the Government’s recently published consultation paper on improving permitted development.  It was noted that the deadline for submission of responses was 23rd October, 2009.

Attention was drawn to the key issues in the 18 questions being consulted upon.  The main proposal was to increase the level of permitted development for non-domestic applications including shops/shop fronts (including automated teller machines), offices, institutions, industries, schools and air conditioning units.  It was explained that this was essentially about limiting the number of applications generally approved by the Local Authority and the consequent reduction in fee income was noted.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the report be noted and the responses suggested to each question be agreed.

-        Deborah Fellowes to report.

-        to approve the consultation response.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Policy and External Affairs Manager, relating to an overview of the recently published Government consultation paper, and outlining some of the key issues for Rotherham and the Yorkshire and Humber.  Approval of Rotherham’s response was therefore sought.

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction (LDEDC) Bill was introduced in Parliament in December 2008 to implement the legislative aspects of these proposals; and this latest consultation paper follows on from an initial policy document on the LDEDC Bill and Regional Strategies published in January this year.

The LDEDC Bill was expected to gain Royal Assent in October this year and the provisions within it on the establishment of Leaders’ Boards would be enacted almost immediately, with the rest of the Bill (including the Local Economic Assessment Duty) and provisions relating to Regional Strategies coming into force from April 2010.

It was noted that Yorkshire and Humbers’ “interim” Leaders Board had already been in place for almost 12 months.

Attention was however drawn to concerns about the guidance:-

-                      limited attention to transport

-                      the need for the Regional Strategy evidence base to be informed by outputs from the statutory local economic assessment (LEA’s) duty i.e. a more “bottom up” approach to the setting of priorities

The suggested response to the consultation was detailed in the Appendix to the submitted report.

Resolved:- That the Rotherham’s response to the consultation paper, as outlined in Appendix A to the submitted report, be approved.

The following item is likely to be considered in the absence of the press and public as being exempt under Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended March 2006) (information relates to finance and business affairs):-

Resolved:-  That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended March 2006) (financial/business affairs).

-        Brian Barrett , Design Consultancy Manager, to report.

-        to approve list of contractors and delegate authority to receive requests.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Design Consultancy Manager, seeking approval to appoint contractors as detailed in the submitted report.

An amended Appendix A was submitted at the meeting listing the proposed Framework Contractors. It was confirmed that the lists had been drawn up following completion of the procurement and tender process following publication of an OJEU Notice in December 2008.

Reference was made to a Statement of Objections issued by the Office of Fair Trading in April 2008.  An explanation was also given in respect of the issue of cover pricing, noting that Rotherham was not unduly affected.

It was pointed out that the selection process had been robust and that the resulting list contained a good representation of local companies.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the lists of contractors, as now submitted, be approved as Yorbuild Framework Contractors.

(2)        That the Director of Asset Management be authorised to receive and manage requests from permitted external organisations to access the YORbuild Framework.