Agenda and minutes

Venue: Diamond Rooms 1 and 2 - Council House. View directions

Contact: Suzanne Bennett/Liz Knight, Governance Services - Telephone: 024 7697 2299/2644  E-mail:  suzanne.bennett@coventry.gov.uk/liz.knight@coventry.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

44.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

45.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 235 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 12th January, 2022 were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

46.

Section 106 Agreements pdf icon PDF 127 KB

Briefing note and presentation of the Head of Planning, Policy and Environment

 

Councillor Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

Minutes:

The Board considered a briefing note and received a presentation of the Head of Planning, Policy and Environment which gave an overview of Section 106 agreements and the processes that were involved in drawing them up. Councillor Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities attended the meeting for the consideration of this item.

 

The briefing note indicated that a Section 106 agreement was a legally binding document agreed between the Local Planning Authority (LPA) and the applicant (and also landowners if separate to the applicant), related to planning applications in the city. The purpose of the agreement was to agree matters that were required to mitigate the impact of the planning application and could include transfers of land and/or money. There were strict rules that set out the threshold requests must meet in order for them to be included in a Section 106 agreement. These were laid out in Regulation 122 of the CIL Regulations 2010, and stated that all requests must be;

a) necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms

b) directly related to the development; and

c) fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development.

 

The briefing note highlighted the normal process for the development of a Section 106 agreement as follows:

1. Application received, and consultations issued to statutory bodies (such as NHS, Historic England, etc) and internal departments (such as Highways, Housing, etc).

2. Relevant consultees make their responses and, where necessary make Regulation 122-compliant requests (e.g., NHS contributions or on-site Affordable Housing), explaining what the impact of the application is, and why the request is appropriate.

3. The Planning Case officer consolidates requests and, with Legal Services, begins to draft Section 106 Agreement.

4. Section 106 negotiated, agreed, signed and sealed.

It was common for an application that was going before Planning Committee to have details of the agreed elements of the Section 106 in the officer report but with some negotiation outstanding.

 

The Committee were informed that recent work by the Planning Policy team had focussed on introducing more standardisation in the drafting of these agreements. Recently consulted upon Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) – Affordable Housing and Open Spaces in particular - had included template agreements in their appendices to ensure that the Council’s position was clear from the outset.

 

Once an application had been determined and the Section 106 agreement signed it was passed to the Planning Policy team who monitored the agreement and ensured that the contributions within it were claimed appropriately. This involves separating each clause into a monitorable activity, noting the various triggers and then invoicing at the correct times. Further information was provided on this monitoring process which included regular site visits by the monitoring officer to check on progress.

 

Once received, Section 106 monies must be spent within five years of receipt (unless specifically stated otherwise) and must only be spent on the specific purposes expressed in the Section 106. Upon receipt, money was nominally allocated to the relevant project but retained  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

47.

Cultural Capital Investment Programme Update pdf icon PDF 145 KB

Briefing note and presentation of the Strategic Lead (European City of Sport, UK City of Culture and Commonwealth Games)

 

Councillor Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

Minutes:

 The Committee considered a briefing note and received a presentation from the Strategic Lead (European City of Sport, UK City of Culture and Commonwealth Games) on progress with the Cultural Capital Investment Programme. Councillor Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, attended the meeting for the consideration of this item.

 

The briefing note indicated that in June 2018 the City Council commissioned the Coventry Cultural Capital Prioritisation Strategy. The strategy was developed by the Council in partnership with Coventry City of Culture Trust to provide a framework for capital investment prioritisation in the period leading up to and into UK City of Culture 2021. The strategy was based on a review of current and planned capital schemes across the cultural sector in the City and consultation with the relevant organisations. The strategy identified key cultural assets that would be significant in contributing to the future resilience and sustainability of cultural organisations and the cultural sector in the City.

 

The strategy recommended key venues and production spaces that were considered relevant for the successful delivery and reputation of the city in hosting the UK City of Culture and in securing sustainable legacies. The strategy assessed the appropriateness and readiness of capital scheme proposals against six strategic priorities that were set out in the briefing note.

 

The Committee were informed that the initial investment from the Council of £5m, had successfully levered £24.5m of direct external grant funding into the programme, £15.8m partner match funding. Currently, the total level of programme investment was £45.3m, which was still growing with the inclusion of the legacy stage projects. This investment was additional to the £44.83m programme of investment into the City Centre public realm. This increased funding had allowed the programme to be more far-reaching, investing in a broader range of production spaces, performance venues and heritage projects. It had also enabled some projects to develop into phases beyond their initial scope.  This had resulted in more cultural organisations being supported and more capital assets receiving investment at such a critical time, as the local cultural and creative sectors had responded to the challenges of the global pandemic. 

 

The Cultural Capital Investment Programme now included 15 projects (excluding legacy stage projects).  The programme had been adapted to meet the challenges faced during the pandemic and the changes experienced across the construction industry following Brexit. Timelines had moved for several projects, but all project teams had responded positively to the challenges faced.  No projects had fallen away from the programme during this time.

 

Currently, 12 projects had been completed and were now operational, with the final projects due to be completed across the coming months, up to summer 2022.

 

The presentation provided details on the twelve completed projects as follows:

·  The Box at FarGo Village – multi-purpose arts venue and events space

·  FarGo Village Remodel – imaginative permanent street food offer

·  Daimler Powerhouse – purpose-built Creation Centre

·  Herbert Art Gallery – refurbishment of several galleries and enhanced visitor experience

·  HMV Empire – redevelopment of vacant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

48.

Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee Work Programme 2021/2022 and Outstanding Issues pdf icon PDF 288 KB

 Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

Minutes:

The Board considered their work programme for the current municipal year including additional items to be added to the programme.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

(1) The work programme for 2021/22 be noted.

 

(2) The following be added to the Scrutiny work programmes for 2022/23:

a) The energy crisis and help for local residents

b) The involvement of local people in climate change.

 

 

49.

Any Other Items of Public Business

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

Minutes:

There were no additional items of public business.