Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

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Items
No. Item

70.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Minutes:

71.1           Councillor Carter declared a local non-pecuniary interest in item 13 as a tenant of the Council.

 

71.

TO CONFIRM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 4 SEPTEMBER 2020

The minutes are deferred to the next Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Minutes:

71.1                  The minutes of the meeting held on the 4 September 2020 was deferred to the next Committee meeting.

 

72.

TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF PETITIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNCIL'S PETITION SCHEME

Minutes:

72.1           None received.

 

73.

QUESTIONS BY THE PUBLIC

To consider questions from and provide answers to members of the public on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedures Rules.

Minutes:

73.1           None received.

 

 

74.

QUESTIONS BY COUNCILLORS

To consider questions from and provide answers to Councillors on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedure Rules.

Minutes:

74.1           None received.

 

75.

FORTHCOMING DECISIONS LIST

To review the Council’s Forthcoming Decisions List and identify any items to be brought before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Please note the most up to date version can be found via the Website:

 

FORTHCOMING DECISIONS LIST

 

Minutes:

76.1       The Chair informed Members that the Forthcoming Decisions List would be discussed in conjunction with items 10 and 11.

 

76.

JOS/19/39 SCRUTINY AND FIRST REVIEW OF THE BABERGH AND MID SUFFOLK HOUSING DELIVERY TEST ACTION PLANS (SEPARATE DOCUMENTS) pdf icon PDF 221 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

76.1           Christine Thurlow, Professional Lead - Key Sites and Infrastructure introduce the report and explained that the Housing Deliver Test Action Plan had been an introduced by Government, as detailed in the introduction of the report. Both Councils were to review the Action Plans in early 2020, however due to the Covid-19 Pandemic lockdown period this had been delayed.

 

76.2             She drew Members attention to paragraph 4.21 to 4.23, which detailed the key facts for the report.

 

76.3              Councillor Ekpenyong referred to paragraph 4.21 and asked what the relationship between the outstanding planning permissions, the deliverable site and the figure in the list were.

 

76.4             Robert Hobbs, the Corporate Manager - Strategic Planning, explained that for the purpose of the Five-year Housing Land Supply, sites had to be deliverable for development within five years.  Planning permission, which were outstanding would not necessarily be completed within five years, as this depended the developers.

 

76.5             Councillor Carter referred to section 3 in the report and asked if the themes were in order of priority. He then referred to section 11 and asked at what point would the environmental impact assessment be undertaken.

 

76.6             The Assistant Director - Sustainable Communities, responded that the themes were not in any order and were all equally important and that section 11 applied solely for the implication of the delivery of this report rather the wider housing issues.

 

76.7             Councillor McCraw queried if the evidence base used to produce the figures in the report and appendices were also the figures used to respond to Government consultations and if these figures were still applicable.

 

76.8             The Corporate Manager for Strategic Planning responded that the figures used as evidence was validated and would not be discarded.

 

76.9             Councillor Scarff referred to page 55 -56, Appendix A and that due to the Covid-19 Lockdown, it had not been possible to conduct an effective engagement with stakeholders. He thought that a better engagement process was needed and asked when these would now take place.

 

76.10         The Professional Lead - Key Sties and Infrastructure responded that engagement with lead stakeholders would take place in January 2021 before the new Housing Test figures were issued.

 

76.11         In response to Councillor Grandon’s questions, the Assistant Director - Sustainable Communities explained that engagement with the housing industry was ongoing on a permanent basis and that many developers preferred virtual meetings.  This had been apparent during the past few months.

 

76.12         Councillor Welham queried how completion figures were recorded when they were either below or above the year on year target figures. He asked with regards to market requirements in the Districts what the Council could do to ensure that smaller houses and bungalow were built.

 

76.13         The Corporate Manager - Strategic Planning, explained that the figures for completions include a caveat to excluded non completed sites for the target figures and that the Hosing Delivery Test were recorded over a three-year period. 

 

76.14         The Corporate Manager – Housing Solutions explained that it was a matter  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

77.

JOS/19/40 ANNUAL REVIEW OF THE JOINT HOMES AND HOUSING STRATEGY AND HOMELESSNESS REDUCTION AND ROUGH SLEEPING REDUCTION STRATEGY, 2019-2024 pdf icon PDF 133 KB

Minutes:

77.1           Councillor Jan Osborne, the Babergh Cabinet Member for Housing, introduced the report and explained that in March 2017 the Councils adopted both the Joint Home and Housing Strategy and Homeless Reduction and Rough Sleeping Reduction Strategy. The strategies’ committed the Councils to be open and transparent and to report how the Councils were preforming against the strategic aims set out in the strategies.  Part of this commitment was to present an annual review to the Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

 

77.2            Heather Tucker, the Corporate Manager for Housing Solutions then provided a presentation to Members.

 

77.3            The Chair thanked the Corporate Manager for the excellent report.

 

77.4            Councillor Grandon asked why the Council suddenly required extra accommodation during the Covid-19 Pandemic, when there were no rough sleepers in Babergh.

 

77.5            The Corporate Manager - Housing Solutions, explained that there had been an increase in people staying with friends and family (Sofa Surfers) or living with elderly relatives in the beginning of the year and who had been asked to leave as a result of the pandemic. This had created a high number of rough sleepers in the area and had increased the need for single accommodation.  The Government were to cover support costs. The Councils were furthermore applying for additional funding from Central Government to enable further support for this group.

 

77.6            Councillor Grandon enquired what kind of support were referred to, as homeless and rough sleepers often had other issues.

 

77.7            The Corporate Manager - Housing Solutions, responded there were many aspects of support for drugs, alcohol and health related issues.  Many rough sleepers did not have access to primary care support due to their transient lifestyle.  If the Councils were successful in the application for further funding, then the Councils would be able to provide 24 hours support, to limit people to return to the streets.

 

77.8            Gavin Fisk, the Assistant Director for Housing, added that during the Covid-19 pandemic all Suffolk Councils and partner agencies housed more than 200 rough sleepers. They were now working with the Suffolk Public Sector Leaders on developing policies and strategies to eradicate rough sleeping in the area.

 

77.9            In response to Councillor McCraw’s questions, the Corporate Manager – Housing Solutions clarified that there were differences between homeless, sofa suffers and rough sleepers. Sofa surfers was not included in the rough sleeper statistics, which was provided to Government and collected on one dedicated night each year for those who ‘bedded down outside’.

 

77.10         Councillor Mullers asked if he could be provided with figures for rough sleeper for Stowmarket outside the meeting.

 

77.11          Councillor Carter queried how many people had been alleviated during the pandemic and how long the effect of the work undertaken during this period would last before the problems resurfaced again.  He thought that some of the issues with rough sleeping were due to the absence of a half-way house in Suffolk. 

 

77.12         The Assistant Director - Housing, responded that pre-Covid-19 the lack of outreach services had already been identified.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

78.

RESOLUTION TO EXCLUDE THE PUBLIC (WHICH TERM INCLUDES THE PRESS)

To consider, whether, pursuant to Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the business specified below on the grounds that if the public were present during this item, it is likely that there would be the disclosure to them of exempt information as indicated against theitem.

The authors of the report propose to be considered in Part 2 of the Agenda are satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

PART 2

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED WITH THE PRESS AND PUBLIC EXCLUDED

 

 

Minutes:

By a unanimous vote

 

It was RESOLVED: -

 

That pursuant to Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the business specified in the report on the grounds that if the public were present during the item, it is likely that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

79.

JOS/19/42 BMSDC INDEPENDENT LIVING SERVICE - A NEW MODEL FOR DISABLED FACILITIES GRANTS

Additional documents:

80.

JOS/19/41 /BABERGH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY WORK PLAN pdf icon PDF 120 KB

To agree the Work Plan

Minutes:

Note: Councillor Ekpenyong left the meeting at 12:30pm.

 

80.1                 The Chair referred to Items 7, 10 and 11 on the Agenda and informed Members that the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee in January 2021, would take place on Monday the 18 January and not on the 14 January as stated in the workplans.

 

80.2                 He asked if Members had many comments and Councillor McCraw asked Members to note that the Joint Committee Meeting on the 19 October 2020 had been cancelled by agreement of both Chairs.

 

80.3                 Members were informed by the Chair that the meetings in February, March, April and May 2021 were likely to be joint meetings.

 

By a unanimous vote.

 

It was RESOLVED: -

 

That with the above amendments, the Forthcoming Decisions List, the Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan and the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan be noted.

 

81.

JOS/19/42 MID SUFFOLK OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY WORK PLAN pdf icon PDF 156 KB

To agree the Work Plan

Minutes:

81.1           See minute number 80.