Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Agenda item

Minutes:

 

Councillor Eburne asked Councillor Morley, Leader of the Council

 

I note that there is no planned full Council meeting until 23rd July.  Given that the last full Council meeting was 27th February, this will have been a five month gap which is not good democratic practice noting that the Council has only had the power to hold virtual or remote meetings since 4th April.  In the interests of openness and transparency to the public, please can you consider holding a meeting before July? If I may add due to the six month rule you may find that some Councillors are at risk of falling foul of that rule if they cant make the July Council meeting and have not been to another Council meeting in the mean-time.

 

Councillor Morley responded

 

Yes we are of course happy to consider an earlier meeting.

 

 

Councillor Eburne asked Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for Planning

 

I note that the Forthcoming Decisions List does not include an item for the next stage of the Joint Local Plan.  According to the current Local Development Scheme, the Joint Local Plan should have been adopted in February 2020.  When will a revised Local Development Scheme be published giving the public and developers a more realistic schedule for the remaining stages?

 

Councillor Burn responded

 

The intention was to review the timetable following completion of the analysis of the consultation responses to the 2019 Regulation 18 Preferred Options Joint Local Plan. Member engagement on this remains ongoing as a number of you will be aware and we are having to adapt our working practices as a result of our current remote working arrangements. Progress is being made on the JLP, with collective input from the JLP Member Working Group. There is current uncertainty on the timescales and the impacts of Covid 19, however we will aim to bring a new Local Development Scheme to the Council meeting in July 2020. Given the response to the previous question it may or may not be possible to bring the revised scheme to the Council meeting if its held before July.

 

 

Councillor Eburne asked Councillor Burn, Cabinet Member for Planning

 

With regards to the Report from the Environmental and Climate Change Task Force, due at Cabinet on 6th July, please advise how the declarations of Climate and Biodiversity Emergencies and the work from this Task Force will be reflected in the next stage of the Joint Local Plan given there is no current timetable for this work noted on the Forthcoming Decision List and the original timetable has long since passed.

 

Councillor Burn responded

 

The draft Joint Local Plan (JLP) sets out planning policies on climate change and environmental enhancement, protection and management in line with both national policy and local circumstances. In drafting the policies, we have also sought guidance on good working practice through the Planning Advisory Service. Should specific planning policy outcomes emerge from the Task Force which differ from this advice it will be considered and discussed through the JLP Member Working Group.

 

Councillor Eburne then asked a supplementary question

 

Will there be sufficient time, if there were some planning policy outcomes from the work of the climate change taskforce, to incorporate these into the Joint Local Plan?

 

The Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities responded

 

It would largely depend on what the suggestions coming from the task force are, how fundamental they would be to the strategic policies drafted within the Joint Local Plan, what impacts any suggestions would have on key planks of the plan and whether those would require further research or consultancy studies.

 

The Leader of the Council then asked the Monitoring Officer to comment on the six month rule. The Monitoring Officer advised Members that the regulations confirm that virtual meetings were included in this rule, and that the ability for the Council to grant dispensation for specific reasons remains in place.

 

 

Councillor Eburne asked Councillor Brewster,  Cabinet Member for Economy

 

Please can you advise how this Programme will support Essential Skills in our District, where those skills have been shown to be much in need during the current crisis?

 

Councillor Brewster responded

 

As part of the Emerging Economic Strategy we were already looking at how skills delivery could be expanded within the districts and were working with Suffolk County council and local colleges and University to formulate better and closer joint working.

Covid 19 has accelerated this work as it is likely any future recession might result in higher levels of unemployment and we want to support people out of work to access programmes to grow transferable skills, resulting in better future employability.

We are also keen to develop programmes for new entrepreneurs and to support those people who wish to start up their own business.  Organisations such as Innovation Labs, who offer affordable hot desk space and virtual membership, alongside programmes of business support are likely to prove vital in supporting such start ups and skills/knowledge required by entrepreneurs.  Specific grants within the new programme can be accessed by a range of business start ups or SMEs if they satisfy the criteria to enable them to grow or develop new innovation or products.  These grants in some cases can be used for training and skills development of staff.