Agenda and draft minutes

Councillors David Veale, Barry Macrae and Liz Richardson had sent their apologies to the Panel.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer or a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

The Chairman informed the Panel that a written statement had been received from David Redgewell, he asked that members note its contents in his absence. A copy of the statement can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book.

The Cabinet Member(s) will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions on the update(s) provided.

Councillor Paul Myers, Cabinet Member for Economic and Community Regeneration addressed the Panel, a summary of his update is set out below.

Business & Skills

The Business & Skills team has been supporting the WECA in the production of the evidence for the local Industrial Strategy and is now undertaking a range of presentation sessions with local groups, to help them further understand the strategy and encourage them to provide comment to the draft evidence base.

Bath Quays North

Delegated decision to approve granted by Planning Committee August 2018

• Development partner appointment approved by Full Cabinet, February 2019.

• Development partner, Legal & General and Bell Hammer, announced at marketing launch on the 7 March 2019.

Bath Quays South

o  BAM remobilised and demolition of Buildings 6 & 8 complete on site. The office piling works are to commence in late spring.

o  Legal discussions with TCN at Newark Works are well advanced and an exchange of contracts is anticipated shortly.  The marketing launch for 45,000 sq ft ‘No. 1 Bath Quays’ was well received at the press and business launches on the 7 March

Bath Quays Bridge

o  The superstructure bridge fabrication works have been contracted with Victor Buyck (a Belgian company). Fabrication of the bridge commences later in 2019 with the bridge opening programmed for December 2020.

Housing

o  Rough Sleeper Initiative Funding

o  All funded projects are now underway, and are either on course to meet their targets or already exceeding them. Our Safesleep provision which was due to close at the end of February has been extended through March in order to accommodate people during severe weather. According to regular rough sleeper counts, the number of people sleeping rough has gone down from 30 people in September, to 18 people in February.

Heritage Services

o  Fashion Museum: an exhibition of one of the world’s best glove collections has just opened. Glove Stories showcases the breadth and depth of The Glove Collection of the Worshipful Company of Glovers of London, cared for and housed at the Museum.

o  The Roman Baths enjoyed success at the Visit England South West Tourism Awards, winning Gold for International Visitor Experience of the Year, Gold for Large Attraction of the Year and Silver for the Business Tourism and Venue Award

o  Business performance: 2018/19 year-end forecast is an over-achievement of profit by £515k

Councillor Rob Appleyard asked if the awards won would be displayed on Council premises.

Councillor Myers replied that he would take that matter forward to see if the cabinets within the Guildhall reception area could be used.

Regeneration

o  Somer Valley Enterprise Zone: Outline Business Cases for commercial/legal advice, land, planning, infrastructure and highways to be submitted to WECA 18 March, to fund delivery of a Local Development Order, new highway access and land agreements.

o  Keynsham High Street: Cabinet approved the concept scheme 6th February enabling Full Business Case submission for £1.5m to WECA on 18 March. December 18/January 19 public consultation still suggests high level of support for the scheme.

Environment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

The Panel will receive a presentation regarding this item.

The Head of Planning gave a presentation to the Panel regarding this item, a copy of which can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book or as an online appendix to these minutes, a summary is set out below.

7 Policies

Seven high level & defined policies exist within the Plan.

1.  Housing Requirement

2.  Spatial Strategy

3.  Affordable Housing Target

4.  Employment

5.  Place-shaping Principles

6.  Strategic Infrastructure

7.  Strategic Development Locations

JSP Requirements

•  105,500 new homes by 2036

•  Space for 82,500+ new jobs

•  24,500 affordable homes

•  Policy 1 UA Housing Requirements;

–  Bristol: 33,500

–  North Somerset: 25,500

–  South Gloucestershire: 32,500

–  B&NES: 14,500

Components of housing supply

•  Existing commitments: 61,500

•  Strategic development locations: 17,100

•  Urban living: 16,200

•  Small windfalls: 6,862

•  Non-strategic growth: 3,400

 Strategy for B&NES

Primary developments will take place in Whitchurch and North Keynsham.

In Whitchurch we will seek to optimise solar gain with roofs facing south so that buildings can generate as much power as possible from the sun with solar panels.

JSP – Public examination, likely main issues

•  The spatial strategy is not the most appropriate one

•  The Housing Requirement is too low (or too high)

•  The infrastructure requirements are not viable / deliverable

•  Green Belt release has not been sufficiently justified

•  The affordable housing target is too low and the requirement of 35% is not viable 

•  Insufficient provision has been made for employment growth and the strategy for allocating land is not clear

•  The Plan is not legally compliant eg Duty to co-operate, the Sustainability Appraisal, Habitats Regulations

Councillor Rob Appleyard asked if any work would be carried out to compensate the release of Green Belt sites.

The Head of Planning replied that it was to be 4/5 locations and that the sites themselves are small.

Councillor Appleyard asked how the evidence for land allocation would be shown.

The Head of Planning replied that it would need to be shown as deliverable, effective and able to promote growth.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien commented that she had some concerns over the developments planned for Whitchurch & Keynsham and said that adequate infrastructure must be in place prior to the housing being built.

The Head of Planning said that this point had been made by a number of Councillors and he felt sure it would be discussed in detail at the public examination.

The Chairman asked if there was any ability to sub-define the Government’s description of Affordable Housing.

The Head of Planning replied that the Strategic Housing Market Assessments (SHMA) has been carried out and that this is an issue that will look to be picked up within the Local Plan.

Councillor O’Brien asked if Curo have been involved in the development of the JSP.

The Head of Planning replied that the Council works closely with a number of housing providers and noted that some do act more as developers on occasions.

The Chairman thanked him for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

The Panel is encouraged to provide feedback both in verbal and written format that can be delivered to the WECA as part of the evidence base consultation process.

The Director for Economy & Growth gave a presentation to the Panel regarding this item, a copy of which can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book or as an online appendix to these minutes, a summary is set out below.

Background

The aim of the (National) Industrial Strategy is to boost productivity by backing businesses to create good jobs and increase the earning power of people throughout the UK with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure.

5 Pillars

·  Ideas: The world’s most innovative economy

·  People: Good jobs and greater earning power for all

·  Infrastructure: A major upgrade to the UK’s infrastructure

·  Business Environment: The best place to start and grow a business

·  Places: Prosperous communities across the UK.

Grand Challenges

·  Artificial Intelligence and data

·  Ageing society

·  Clean growth

·  Future of mobility

West of England Local Industrial Strategy

“Local Industrial Strategy will help deliver the region’s ambition to be a driving force for sustainable, inclusive growth”

The strategy will build on the unique strengths of the West of England:

An attractive place to live and work;

Strong connections by road, rail, air and sea.

Diverse economy offering a wide variety of job opportunities at all skill levels.

It will do this by

Delivering long-term growth that is inclusive and clean

Accelerate economic growth by strengthening productivity to ensure that the region creates high-quality, well-paid jobs for our residents

Delivery

West of England LIS will be delivered through three main strands:

·  Evidence Base

·  Grand Challenge Workshops

·  Deep Dives

Creative Collisions

Deep dives to focus on creative collisions, where enabling technologies overlap.

Evidence Base Outcomes

·  People & Skills

o  A growing population; unlike other places that includes growth in working-age cohorts

o  37% growth expected in over-65 population by 2038

o  16-17 year olds are more likely than nationally to not be in education, employment or training (+0.8 points)

o  Significant growth in high-skilled jobs and decline in low skilled ones: helps lift incomes, but presents a risk of weakening the ladder to prosperity for some residents

·  Clean & Inclusive Growth

o  Productivity in the region is above average

o  Growth has slowed relative to elsewhere

o  Not all residents have shared in recent success, and costs are rising

·  Infrastructure

o  Extensive evidence on the region’s transport infrastructure and built environment has been developed in the Joint Local Transport Plan and Joint Spatial Plan.

o  Infrastructure assets such as the port and airport provide strong international connectivity

o  Economic growth has put our infrastructure under increasing pressure, and house prices have risen to 9.3 times average earnings

·  Business Environment

o  Employment in professional services and the public sector has grown in recent years

o  The region trades less intensively than the national average, but runs a trade surplus, driven by strong services exports

o  Business survival rates and scale-up success seem positive; however, business creations and closures are less dynamic than elsewhere

Summary of Issues

Inclusive Growth - There are gaps in educational and training provision compared with future business needs, and the jobs market  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.