Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors L Bates, B Beale, D Foster and S Peaple.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 June 2012 were approved and signed as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor D Cook and seconded by Councillor J Faulkner)

To receive any declarations of Members’ interests (personal and/or personal and   prejudicial) in any matters which are to be considered at this meeting.

When Members are declaring a personal interest or personal and prejudicial interest in respect of which they have dispensation, they should specify the nature of such interest.  Members should leave the room if they have a personal and prejudicial interest in respect of which they do not have a dispensation.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

None

(i)                 To answer questions from members of the public pursuant to Procedure Rule No. 10.

(ii)               To answer questions from members of the Council pursuant to Procedure Rule No. 11

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL                NO. 1

Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor C Cooke will ask the Portfolio Holder for Housing, the following question:-

"I understand 500 of Tamworth Council's 2300 or so garage properties are to be handed over to Registered Social Landlords to be redeveloped for housing.  Looking at the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment this figure could be a lot higher.  Meanwhile there are 275 people on the Council's garage waiting list.  10%, or 54, of those earmarked for redevelopment are in Chapelon, in Glascote, where on-street parking is already a problem for some residents.  Can the portfolio holder advise me of any measures that will be taken to ensure and manage adequate on-street parking in areas that are to lose a sizeable amount of their garage allocations?”

The Portfolio Holder for Housing gave the following reply:

I would like to thank Councillor Cooke for his question. The Council is currently taking forward the disposal of 26 Council owned garage sites for the purpose of developing affordable housing.  This activity is consistent with previous Cabinet decisions to disinvest in garage sites that are uneconomical to maintain and utilise these for re-development purposes where this is a practical option.

The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) is a snapshot of land which is known to be, or has the potential to be, made available for housing development in Tamworth Borough for the next 15 years based on the information currently available. It identifies sites which have the potential to accommodate housing, estimates their future potential capacity and assesses the status of sites already allocated for housing in the adopted Tamworth Local Plan, as well as sites which have planning permission for housing.

Whilst other garage sites identified in the SHLAA have the potential to be developed for housing, these have currently been identified for retention for continued use as garage units. 

Of the 26 sites earmarked for disinvestment and re-development, the first 10 sites located in the Leyfields and Coton Green areas of Tamworth were included in Tranche 1 of the project and have taken some 18 months to progress to a point where planning applications can be submitted hopefully late summer of this year.

With specific reference to the sites in Chapelon, they are included within Tranche 2 and 3 sites.  Work on these sites is about to commence and a detailed programme of site evaluation, feasibility assessments and consultation will again be required to determine which of the remaining 16 sites will go forward for re-development.   This process will adopt a similar approach as applied to the 10 Tranche 1 sites and should again take approximately 18 months to complete. 

With regard to the Tranche 1 sites, parking issues around the proposed developments have been highlighted as a major concern by residents.  The production of a Parking Strategy that highlighted key issues and proposed solutions provided a means by which to address those issues.  All garage tenants were offered a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Cemetery Access Petition

Ms Mirza presented her Cemetery Access Petition to Council.

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Waste Management

The Report of the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Waste Management seeking approval for the formal adoption of four Dog Control Orders was considered.

Report of the Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer

The Report of the Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer regarding the proposed changes to the Constitution and Code of Conduct and Appointment of Independent Persons was considered.

A motion was made to make the following amendments:

a)     iv) question members of the executive and committees and chief officers about their views on issues and proposals affecting the area and receive a reply/progress statement from the responsible body or member within 3 calendar months, relating to any recommendations accepted by full Council or Cabinet which have been referred from the scrutiny process;

be replaced by

iv) question members of the executive and committees and chief officers about their views on issues and proposals affecting the area and receive a reply/progress statement from the responsible body or member within 6 working weeks, relating to any recommendations accepted by full Council or Cabinet which have been referred from the scrutiny process;

b)         point 17j.1 of the Overview and Scrutiny Rules restricting the number of call ins per year, be deleted

(Moved by Councillor M Couchman and seconded by Councillor J Faulkner)

This was not carried.