Agenda, decisions and minutes

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on the Agenda.

Councillors S. Boulton, T. Kingsbury and F. Thomson each declared a non-pecuniary interest in items on the Agenda as Members of Hertfordshire County Council.

To consider the following item:-

The following items were considered:-

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning) on the Inspector’s Letter and Proposed Modifications to the Local Plan.

Cabinet recommended to Full Council the proposed sites agreed and recommended by the Special Council on 27 January 2022 and their updated dwelling numbers specifically as shown in table 3 of the report and Appendix A Table 1 of the report giving a total updated capacity of 12,775 with 8,517 in the first ten years.

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning) on the Inspector’s Letter and Proposed Modifications to the Local Plan. Members received a presentation which set out the Council’s January 2022 Strategy and the Inspector’s response; the housing requirement, housing supply, the recommendation from Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel and the risks.

In January 2022, Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel considered options to meet the Full Objective Assessment for Housing Need (FOAHN) of 15,200. The panel proposed that the Council’s strategy agreed in November 2020 be put forward for consideration by Cabinet and Council.

The strategy had identified a supply of sites for 13,277 dwellings to meet what the Council considered should be the FOAHN OF 13,800.

There were also changes to windfall allowance, updated completions and commitments and amendments to the strategy as a consequence of decisions made by the inspector, this resulted in a distribution of 13,279 dwellings.  

This had been presented to Council at a special meeting on 27 January 2022.

The Council wrote a letter to the inspector setting out the strategy and noting that the availability and size of sites resulted in most of the development being delivered in the first ten years post adoption.

The Inspector responded to the Council’s letter and had advised that the Local Plan requirement of 15,200 was still appropriate.  He had advised an approach based on identifying sites for the year period following adoption could be sound with a commitment to a review, to be undertaken in the context of housing need and national policy.

The Inspector had now found HS24 in Little Heath and SDS6 in Symondshyde unsound.  HS29 and HS30 in Cuffley were also not found sound. A fifth site, HS22 has previously been found sound and the Inspector confined that the site was still sound.

The inspector advised the Council that the plan can only move forward if the Council identified sufficient sites for the first ten years post adoption and carried out consultation on an agreed set of main modifications. The inspector also required sound evidence to demonstrate that the plan can deliver five years’ worth of housing against the plan’s housing requirement.

The Inspector had concluded that the housing requirement for the plan period 2016-36 was 15,200 dwellings with an average 760 dwellings per annum.  A 20% buffer had to be provided to reflect under delivery resulting in a 10 year target of 7,938.

Completions during the plan period to 31 March 2022 equated to 2,731 dwellings, resulting in a residual requirement for 12,469 dwellings for the plan period, an average of 891 dwellings per annum.

The Inspector stated that the five years needed to start from April 2023 rather than 2022.  Therefore it was necessary to estimate the number of completions for 2022/23 and this resulted an increase in the shortfall from 1,829 to 1,976 dwellings.

It was noted that at the Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel meeting on 21 July 2022 members had rejected both recommendations in the report.  Members agreed to recommend the proposed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20a

To consider the following item for decision in the current Forward Plan:-

The following item for decision in the current Forward Plan was considered:-

Report of the Chief Executive on the United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund (UKPSF).

(1)    Cabinet agreed that delegated authority is given to the Executive Director (Finance and Transformation) and the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader and Executive Member (Planning and Resources), to authorise, submit and amend any subsequent changes to the UKSPF Investment Plan.

(2)  Cabinet noted that the Executive Director (Finance and Transformation), in consultation with the Executive Member (Planning and Resources) will adjust the Council’s budget once the UKSPF Investment Plan is approved, under his general delegated powers and in accordance with the Council’s Financial Regulations.

Report of the Chief Executive on the United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund (UKPSF).

(1)        The Decision Taken

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

(1)  Cabinet agreed that delegated authority is given to the Executive Director (Finance and Transformation) and the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader and Executive Member (Planning and Resources), to authorise, submit and amend any subsequent changes to the UKSPF Investment Plan.

(2)  Cabinet noted that the Executive Director (Finance and Transformation), in consultation with the Executive Member (Planning and Resources) will adjust the Council’s budget once the UKSPF Investment Plan is approved, under his general delegated powers and in accordance with the Council’s Financial Regulations.

(2)       Reasons for the Decision

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was launched on 13 April 2022. It sits within the Government’s Levelling Up agenda. The total value of the fund is £2.6bn, of which Welwyn Hatfield’s allocation is £1,468,506. The fund will run until March 2025.

Each local authority is required to prepare and submit an investment plan in order to access the fund.  However, the process is being run on quite a short timescale, with a deadline for submissions of 1 August 2022.

The fund can be used for three areas of investment priority, which were intended to complement Levelling Up missions, with an overarching mission of “Building pride in place and increasing life chances: Community and Place, Supporting Local Business and People and Skills.

There was a requirement for local authorities to convene a local partnership group. To assist swift decision making given the tight deadline, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council had formed a focussed Partnership Group, chaired by the Leader of the Council. The members of the group were Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, Hertfordshire County Council, the University of Hertfordshire, Oaklands College, the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce and the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Partnership Group had met and had decided to support a number of projects for various sums of money. Examples of projects to be included were: Hatfield Market Place Public Realm Regeneration, Anniversary Gardens, Welwyn Garden City, Campus West, Digital Information Screens and Herts Growth Hub.

It was envisaged that the investment plan would be determined by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) in around October 2022 and payment will only be made once the plan is approved.

To appoint Cabinet Panels, Committees and Boards for 2022/23.

Cabinet agreed the revised appointment to Cabinet Panels, Committees and Boards for 2022/23.

To appoint Cabinet Panels, Committees and Boards for 2022/23.

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

Cabinet agreed the appointment to Cabinet Panels, Committees and Boards for 2022/23.

The Cabinet is asked to resolve:

That under Section 100(A)(2) and (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be now excluded from the meeting for Items 10 and 11 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of confidential or exempt information as defined in Section 100(A)(3) and Paragraph 3 (private financial or business information) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the said Act (as amended).

In resolving to exclude the public in respect of the exempt information, it is considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED:

That under Section 100(A)(2) and (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be now excluded from the meeting for Agenda items 10 and 11 (Minute 25 refer) on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of confidential or exempt information as defined in Section 100A(3) and paragraph 3 (private financial or business information) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the said Act (as amended). 

In resolving to exclude the public in respect of the exempt information, it was considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

To consider the following item of an exempt nature:-

The following item of an exempt nature for decision was considered:-

Report of the Chief Executive on the Better Care Grant Funding for Exceptional Circumstances.

After full consideration of the details as set out in the exempt report, Cabinet approved a loan from the council’s Better Care Fund and delegated authority to Officers, in consultation with the Executive Member (Housing) and Executive Member (Resources and Planning), to finalise the details.

Exempt report of the Chief Executive on the Better Care Grant Funding for Exceptional Circumstances.

(Note: a more detailed record of the Cabinet discussion is contained in exempt item 24a).