Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Bailey.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 11^th December 2024 were approved as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor L Wood and seconded by Councillor N Statham)

There were none.

To receive an update from the Chair

The Chair advised the Committee that the Tamworth Housing & Supported Housing Strategy 2025-2030 has been delayed which was due at the meeting had been delayed and would come at a later date.

Update on responses received to Reports of the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Committee:

·          

The Chair update the Committee that they attended Cabinet on the 23^rd January where they presented the Committees recommendation for the Climate Change Update concerning solar panels, and that this was approved alongside the recommendations in the report.

(Discussion item)

There were none.

To receive updates from any Working Groups

There were no updates however the Chair gave an update that the lorry issue around Dunstall park has gone away but that this has move to Lichfield Road Industrial Estate.

Cllr Price confirmed that a meeting would take place before the next meeting of the committee.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Homelessness and Planning)

The Chair welcomed the Planning Policy Team Leader and the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Homelessness and Planning to introduce the report to seek committee endorsement of the recommendations to be presented to Cabinet at the 20th February 2025 meeting in relation to the publication of the revised Local Development Scheme.

The Portfolio Holder provided the committee with a summary of the report.

The committee made the following comments/observations and asked the following questions:

1.     What are the main differences between the old and the new versions of the National Planning policy framework (NPPF)?

The main changes relate to housing need. The new standard method used to calculate our annual housing need has increased significantly from 123 to 445. There are also changes around the rules on greenbelt.

The Committee asked how realistic it would be to achieve this target of the housing need?

The Officer confirmed that this would be difficult to achieve, an issue being limited space within the borough

2.     There are a number of local development  documents that sit aside the plan,  but there does not seem to be anything relating to houses of multiple occupancy, the majority of which appear to be in Spital, Castle and Wilnecote wards where a number of small properties within the borough appear to be being converted and that this could change the character/feel of an area. Could a HMO policy be developed to look at limiting streets that could be developed on?

The officer confirmed that this could be look at as part of the housing section of the plan.

3.     Does Staffordshire County Council (SCC) contribute towards Highways?

It was confirmed that SCC’s sustainability team would be a consultee on developments and are developing a sustainable transport strategy is being developed. SCC would provide more advice when specific developments are identified.

4.     Clarification around the development of infrastructure when housing developments are proposed.

It was confirmed that this depended on the size of the development. The usual process was to use Section 106 legal agreements for infrastructure outside of the boundary of the development. For larger developments road can be put in internally to an adoptable standard.

5.     The reports shows the percentage of time being used to the develop the plan including the use of a temporary officer – was this sufficient?

It was confirmed that this was an identified risk and that they are a small team, but that there was an option to use consultants (consultants are already used for the evidence-based work). The Officer and Portfolio Holder confirmed that they were having regular catch ups about progress.

(Discussion item – link to Forward Plan is attached)

Browse plans - Cabinet, 2024 :: Tamworth Borough Council

There were no items identified from the forward plan.

(Discussion item – to review the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Work Plan and any Work Plan requests)

The Chair confirmed that the next meeting in February was a single item agenda meeting for the matter to look at the matter of Improving Water Quality within the Boroughs rivers where there are a number of external partners attending.

The next meeting was on the 5^th March where they would receive a Community Safety Partnership Update, and the Decant Policy. The Nature Recovery Declaration and Joint Waste update but will ask for these to be reports only with no officer attendance as we also have the.

The Committee considered two work planning proposal submitted for consideration –

1)    Road Infrastructure within Tamworth

The Committee agreed to add this to the work plan

(Moved by Councillor L Wood and seconded by Councillor N Statham)

2)    Lightspeed Broadband

It was highlighted that the MP was meeting with Lightspeed Broadband in the following week and that Cllr N Statham would provide an update at the next meeting when the Committee would consider.

The Chair closed the meeting at 6:33pm.