Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made at this meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public or the press.

None were received.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission, held on 28^th November, 2012, be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

Further to Minute No. 39 of the meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission held on 28^th November, 2012, consideration was given to a report presented by the Planning Manager concerning agreements made under the provisions of Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

The submitted report detailed the information collated and updated from the first meeting of the Section 106 corporate officer steering group assessing how recipient services engage in the Section 106 process, the monies required from development, monies received and spent on specific projects and the investigation of the move away from Section 106 agreements towards a Community Infrastructure Levy for Rotherham. The appendix to the report included specific details of:-

(i) Section 106 agreements with financial obligations entered into for the financial years 2006/07 to 2012/13;

(ii) trigger points within Section 106 agreements reached during the period from 2006/07 to 2012/13;

(iii) payments made by developers and monies expended by the recipient service during the period from 2006/07 to 2012/13.

The report highlighted the following issues:-

(a) matters concerning specific Council services in receipt of Section 106 contributions – education and schools, green spaces (eg: play areas), libraries, contributions for affordable housing; highways and transportation (including public transportation); one example mentioned was the arrangement whereby planning permissions granted for large scale housing development sometimes lead to pressure upon places available at local schools, which can be mitigated by the developer making a contribution via a Section agreement;

(b) the financial procedures in place to ensure sound financial governance for Section 106 agreements; it was noted that Section 106 contributions are first of all paid into one central holding account and are immediately transferred to the accounts of the recipient Council service;

(c) reference was made to the use of powers under Section 278 of the Highways Act 1980, rather than Section 106 agreements, in respect of off-site highways mitigation works;

(d) the requirements of a Section 106 agreement must be reasonable, because the facility is available to a developer to challenge the terms of a S106 agreement which may not be realistic or reasonable; the heads of terms of Section 106 agreements are considered by the Planning Regulatory Board alongside the application for planning permission.

The Select Commission’s discussion of this matter included the following issues:-

: Section 106 contributions are intended to mitigate the effects of the new development which has been allowed by the planning permission; it was acknowledged that the system could not and was not intended to resolve all issues within a community;

: contributions to open spaces and play areas – Members learned that there is no formal policy for the calculation of Section 106 contributions for green spaces/play areas;

: Section 106 contributions are sometimes paid in stages at various “trigger points”, eg: according to the number of completed houses in respect of a large scale development;

: Section 106 agreements will include a clause which will require developers to inform  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

Further to Minute No. 24 of the meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission held on 5^th September, 2012, discussion took place on the Select Commission’s work programme for the 2012/2013 Municipal Year. Members noted the following details:-

(i) Housing issues: repairs have been considered and the allocations policy will be considered at the next meeting of this Select Commission, to be held on 27^th March, 2013;

(ii) progress reports about potholes and about the Grounds Maintenance review report will be submitted to the meeting on 27^th March, 2013;

(iii) off-road motor cycle nuisance – to be considered at the meeting of this Select Commission to be held on 16^th April, 2013.

In addition, Members made the following suggestions of topics to be included within the Select Commission’s work programme:-

: Council housing rents and supplementary charges for community rooms and laundry charges;

: community assets/community right to buy;

: future use of community buildings;

: Council housing finance (eg: housing revenue account; the programme of new building and funding for the maintenance of the existing housing stock).

Members were asked to contact the Scrutiny Manager with any other suggested topics.

Resolved:- That the details of the Select Commission’s work programme be received.

new date to note :

Tuesday 16^th April 2013 (re-arrangement of the January 2013 meeting)

1.30 pm at Rotherham Town Hall

Resolved: -  (1) That the next meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission take place on Wednesday 27^th March, 2013, starting at 1.30 pm at the Town Hall, Rotherham.

(2) That, in view of the cancellation of the January, 2013, meeting, a further meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission be held on Tuesday, 16th April, 2013, starting at 1.30 pm at the Town Hall.