Issue - meetings

Recommendation from the Estate Management Scheme Member Group on 6 December 2021 on the proposed changes to the operation of the Estate Management Scheme.

Cabinet agreed to the adoption of changes as recommended by the Estate Management Scheme Member Group on 6 December 2021.

Recommendation from the Estate Management Scheme Member Group on 6 December 2021 on the proposed changes to the operation of the Estate Management Scheme.

(1)        The Decision Taken

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

Cabinet agreed to the adoption of changes as recommended by the Estate Management Scheme Member Group on 6 December 2021.

(2)       Reasons for the Decision

The Estate Management Scheme Member Group recommended to Cabinet:

1.  The EMS Member Group noted the adoption of the EMS website as a one-stop portal for residents and other interested parties to access the design guide, EMS policy information and the EMS application process.

2.  The EMS Member Group recommended that Cabinet agrees to the adoption of the EMS Design Guide on the understanding that the Group will continue to review and recommend changes to the Design Guide, and with the following amendments;

a.       The Design Guide should be amended to remove the expectation that solar panels would be located to the rear or side roof slopes and be open to applications which choose an orientation which is more effective in relation to the sun. However, the Design Guide should still state that such installation should be done sensitively, and the projection of any solar panels should be minimised as far as is practicable.

b.       The Design Guide should be amended to view the installation of standard Electric Charging points at the front of properties to be allowable under the scheme.

3.  The EMS Member Group recommended that Cabinet delegate authority to the Head of Planning in consultation with the Executive Member, Environment, Planning, Estates and Development, to make minor changes and improvements to the EMS Design Guide, with such changes being notified to the Group when they are made.

4.  The Group noted the proposed use of an Arbiter to hear EMS application appeals and recommended to Cabinet that the current terms of reference of the Welwyn Garden City Estate Management Appeals Panel be amended to review cases brought to them by officers and those “called-in” by Members. The Group also recommend that the Panel be renamed the Welwyn Garden City Estate Management Panel and that the operation of the new arrangements be reviewed after one year.

5.  The Group noted the introduction of application fees and proposed fees as set out in the report. The Group recommended that the proposed fee structure table be amended as follows:

a.       The “Small Projects” and “Medium Projects” text boxes should include the words “where the alteration is not replacing like for like“ to reduce ambiguity with the ‘Replacement – Genuinely Like for Like’ category above; and replace the words “Examples include…” with “Examples may include…”, and the number of examples given be reduced, to avoid the table being too prescriptive.

b.       a cap be introduced for Small and Medium Projects applications, where there were multiple projects being applied for at the same time by one applicant, with a suggestion of £100 per grouped application.