Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of members' interests.

The purpose of the report is to set out the results of the eleventh Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) for Portsmouth City Council..

RECOMMENDED that theCabinet Member approves the AMR for publication on the council’s website.

(TAKE IN REPORT)

The Principal Planning Officer introduced the report explaining that as local planning authority the Council must publish an annual authority monitoring report covering the period 1 April – 31 March of the preceding year. The 2015 report covers the period from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015.  It sets out progress made towards delivering the policies in the Portsmouth Plan, and reports on a number of indicators that are of particular interest to the government. Paragraph 4.2 gives an overview of the main points.

The Cabinet Member was happy with the report and the opposition spokespersons had no queries.

DECISION:

that the Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development approved the AMR for publication on the council’s website.

The purpose of this report is to seek approval to publish the 2015 SHLAA update report.

RECOMMENDED that the Cabinet Member

a.         approves the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2015 update (attached as Appendix A of this report) for publication.

b.        authorises the Assistant Director of Culture and City Development to make editorial amendments to the study prior to publication, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development. These amendments shall be restricted to correcting errors and formatting text and shall not alter the meaning of the report.

(TAKE IN REPORT)

The Cabinet Member for PRED, Councillor Luke Stubbs varied the order of the meeting to deal with this item immediately after Minute 6. This was as a courtesy to two members of the public who had asked to make deputations on this item.

Jacqueline Boulter, Principal Planning Officer, introduced the report explaining that housing development was the government's key focus and the authority was required to identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide five years' worth of housing against their housing requirements.

She stressed that this was not a full SHLAA.

Mr Rod Bailey was invited to make his deputation which included the following points

·         He was disappointed about the inclusion of Furze Lane which he said was against the weight of public opinion and therefore against the intentions of localism and appeared to conflict with statements made by Brandon Lewis, Minister of State for Housing and Planning at the Department for Communities and Local Government.

·         The SHLAA identifies more than the required number of houses so there was no need to include Furze Lane.

·         There is no social site allocation for housing

·         He believes inclusion of this site is inappropriate and unnecessary, is inconsistent with national policy and unsustainable

Mr O'Hara then made his deputation which included the following points

·         The site identified is the major breeding ground for Brent Geese on the Solent coast and if substantial numbers of houses were built there, this would have a serious detrimental effect on the geese, as more people would be drawn in to the area.

·         He believes the site to be unsuitable for housing and that there is no requirement for all the housing identified and would like this site to be removed from the SHLAA.

In response to the points made in the deputations, the Principal Planning Officer explained that the SHLAA was not an allocation and not even a draft allocation.  It simply identified potential sites. This site was included some years ago and nothing has changed since then so it has to remain included at this stage. She said that there is a very long and detailed disclaimer at the beginning of the document that makes the situation clear.

The Assistant Director of  Culture & City Development said that the document does not pre-determine or pre-judge whether the sites identified are suitable. It was necessary to identify potential sites as the city council is required to assess its performance against its plan targets and in particular, whether it is likely to meets its targets in the first five years. The SHLAA update represents this assessment.

DECISION:

that the Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development

(a)  Approved the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2015 update (attached as Appendix A of the report) for publication.

(b)    Authorised the Assistant Director of Culture and City Development to make editorial amendments to the study prior to publication, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development. These amendments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The decision relating to the report from the Director of Property and Housing entitled "Land at East Lodge Park" is a Key Decision for the purposes of the Forward Plan as defined in Article 13 of the Constitution but was not included in the Forward Plan as an item for the PRED portfolio for March 2016 (as a previous item relating to East Lodge Farm concerned the Adult Social Care residential home proposal which had been advertised on the Forward Plan published on 8 February 2016 to go to 3 March Cabinet rather than a property item that needs to go to PRED) and is therefore an omission from the Forward Plan (as updated on 16 & 22 February 2016).

The Chair of the City Council's Scrutiny Management Panel has been notified that the decision is being made, in accordance with the City Council's Constitution (General Exceptions, Section 15). 

The report by the Director of Property and Housing outlines the need to progress the disposal of surplus property at the site.

RECOMMENDED that the Forward Plan Omission be noted and that the necessary public notice has been published.

The Cabinet Member noted the reason why this was a Forward Plan omission as explained on the agenda.

The Chair of the City Council's Scrutiny Management Panel had been notified that the decision is being made, in accordance with the City Council's Constitution (General Exceptions, Section 15).

The Cabinet Member noted the Forward Plan Omission and that the

necessary public notice had been published.

Purpose of report

To update Members on the future of the Land at East Lodge Park, and to seek authority subject to a detailed options appraisal to dispose of the site in the event that this option delivers the best return to the Council.

RECOMMENDED

(1)  That a detailed options appraisal be undertaken by officers for the site at East Lodge Park to determine the best use of the asset for the Council. This appraisal will include (but will not be limited to) options for care provision and disposal for housing.

(2)  That the approval of the options appraisal be delegated to the Corporate Asset Development Board in consultation with the Director of Finance.

(3)  That following the options appraisal if disposal of the site is the best option that following the marketing of the site the Corporate Asset Development Board in consultation with the Director of Finance, be empowered to select an offer including the method of disposal for development, (including any expenditure required to facilitate the disposal), which could include but not be limited to;

·         Freehold or leasehold sale

·         Entering a Joint venture arrangement with a third party

(4)  The Director of Property, the Director of Finance & Section 151 Officer, and the City Solicitor, be given authority to complete all necessary documentation required to complete the transaction as per 2.3 above.

(TAKE IN REPORT)

Jo Bennett introduced the report and drew attention to section 3 of the report which gives reasons for the recommendations..  Ms Bennett advised that the report seeks authority subject to a detailed options appraisal to dispose of the site in the event that this option delivers the best return to the Council.  There was a short discussion about the costs that had already been incurred on the site as it had been intended to use it to provide an Adult Social Care facility.  Ms Bennett said that that had not been possible as there was only one tender and that was unsuccessful as it was over budget.  Ms Bennett said that the costs incurred on that exercise were internal costs.  The aim was to complete the options appraisal in a matter of weeks.  In order to move this forward quickly it was recommended that delegated authority is given to the Corporate Assets Development Board in consultation with the Director of Finance to approve and progress the best method of disposal for development or enter into a joint venture.

The Cabinet Member said he would approve the recommendations.

DECISION:

that the Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development agreed

(1)  That a detailed options appraisal be undertaken by officers for the site at East Lodge Park to determine the best use of the asset for the Council. This appraisal will include (but will not be limited to) options for care provision and disposal for housing.

(2)  That the approval of the options appraisal be delegated to the Corporate Asset Development Board in consultation with the Director of Finance.

(3)  That following the options appraisal if disposal of the site is the best option that following the marketing of the site the Corporate Asset Development Board in consultation with the Director of Finance, be empowered to select an offer including the method of disposal for development, (including any expenditure required to facilitate the disposal), which could include but not be limited to;

·         Freehold or leasehold sale 

·         Entering a Joint venture arrangement with a third party

(4) The Director of Property, the Director of Finance & Section 151 Officer, and the City Solicitor, be given authority to complete all necessary documentation required to complete the transaction as per (3) above.