Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence, if any.

Apologies were received from Cllrs S Butikofer, T FitzPatrick, W Fredericks, G Hayman, N Housden, G Mancini-Boyle, J Punchard, E Spagnola, E Seward and E Vardy

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests that they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.  The Code of Conduct for Members requires that declarations include the nature of the interest and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (see attached guidance and flowchart)

None received.

To determine any other items of business which the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B (4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

The following item of urgent business has been submitted by the Section 151 Officer:

Fees & Charges and Capital Programme Amendments for 2023/2024

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information, and which are not published elsewhere)

The Chairman informed members that there were three items of urgent business:

·       Fees & Charges and Capital programme Amendments for 2023/2024

·       Update on response to the County Deal consultation

·       Update on Cabinet appointments

She invited the Leader to introduce the Fees & Charges and Capital Programme Amendments for 2023/2024.

The Leader began by saying the agreement of the revised Estates Fees and Charges (which had been circulated prior to the meeting of Full Council on 22 February 2023) needed to be formalised. He proposed that the amendments were approved. Cllr P Heinrich seconded the proposal.

The Chairman invited members to speak:

Cllr C Cushing said that it was extraordinary that a detailed paper setting out amendments to the Budget was being brought forward a week after the Budget was debated and agreed. He said that this was the first time it had happened since he had been elected and he queried why it had taken so long to bring this to members and commented that there was more than just ‘tweaking’. He referred to the Capital Budget and said that there had been a discussion at the previous meeting about including funding for a 3G pitch in Fakenham utilising money allocated to North Walsham. He noted that this had not been reflected in the updated report but that additional funding of £1m for a 3G football pitch at Cromer was included. He added that he understood £300k of this funding would come from reserves, which he found astonishing, given that only a week before the Administration had agreed to increase Council Tax to generate an additional £200k of income. Cllr Cushing queried why Cromer was receiving yet more money. He asked the Leader if the Fakenham bid would be coming forward in the next financial year and also to explain why such a large amount of funding was suddenly allocated to Cromer for a 3G pitch.

The Leader replied that he had addressed the Cromer sports provisions during his opening remarks at the Budget meeting of Full Council the previous week. He said that it was a repair and refurbishment project. The Fakenham project would need to be scoped out and considered. Cllr Cushing replied that there was no reason why the Fakenham bid could not proceed. The proposal for a 3G pitch in the town was included as part of the Levelling Up bid, so a lot of the initial work had already been done. The Football Association had also indicated that they were supportive of a bid at Fakenham and he could see no reason why it could not come forward now, rather than languishing in a reserve.

The S151 Officer said that in the updated appendix, the funding had been changed under the ‘Quality of Life’ heading to state Artificial Football Pitch North Walsham / Fakenham.  Cllr Cushing replied that last week when the Budget was discussed, there was no reference within the Capital Bids for Cromer and now there was a £1m allocated to Cromer and just a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 133.

To consider any questions or statements received from members of the public.

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not published elsewhere)

The Chairman invited the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Cllr A Brown, to introduce this item.

Cllr Brown began by thanking the Planning Policy team for their hard work over the last 5 to 6 years to bring the Local Plan in its final draft format to Members for consideration. He said, that as Chairman of the Planning Policy & Built Heritage Working Party, he would also like to thank Members from across the Groups for their help and support throughout the process.

He said that the final draft of the Local Plan provided a blue print for development over the years 2018 to 2036. It included almost 80 policies to help the Council determine future planning applications. It identified sites for development to provide homes for local people, creation of jobs and infrastructure as well as looking after the built and natural environments. In particular, the Plan made provision for managing and adapting to climate change.

Cllr Brown then highlighted the key areas of focus for the Plan;

Delivering sufficient homes at the right time and in the right places, strengthening the local economy, protecting the natural and built heritage and contributing towards health and wellbeing.

He explained that 12,000 homes needed to be delivered during the period of the plan. The aim was to make these as attractive as possible and the plan identified a number of new development sites. To attempt to limit the impact of climate change, a comprehensive range of policies were included to mitigate risk, add resilience and reduce the carbon impacts of new development.

He said that a key challenge was to enable the required growth whilst also conserving and enhancing the landscape and natural environment of the District. The vast majority of development proposed in the Plan was to be located in the larger towns so that residents could access a broad range of facilities and services without the need to travel and so that the impact of developments on open countryside could be minimised. Smaller amounts of development were proposed in a number of selected villages which had either small site allocations or were subject to a policy which allowed for a 6% growth in housing over the Plan period.

Cllr Brown explained that the preparation of a new Local Plan was not the mechanism for review of environmental designations such as the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and conservation areas, however, policies in the Plan ensured that the defining characteristics or special qualities of specific designations were taken into account during the planning application process.

He said that the Plan included a number of new policies relating to wildlife and environmental issues, including new requirements for larger developments to demonstrate a 10% net gain in biodiversity, measures to ensure no new phosphate and nitrate pollution in rivers and broads and a new tariff based contributions process to help mitigate the impact of visitors to designated wildlife sites.

In conclusion, Cllr Brown said that it must be recognised that several factors  ...  view the full minutes text for item 135.

Following a period of consultation which ran to 31^st January we received good engagement from the various parishes included in this review.

We have also received some good feedback in terms of additional information which we were not previously aware of and also alternative potential locations.

We are now in a position to make final recommendations for Full Council to consider with any adoptions being implemented at the forthcoming Local Council Elections on Thursday 4^th May 2023.

Recommendation

That Full Council adopts the proposals set out below:

Thornage (STO7)

To recommend that Gregories Barn, Thornage Hall is designated the Polling Place and Polling Station for the civil parish of Thornage (STO7) replacing the existing arrangement at Thornage All Saints Church with immediate effect.

Overstrand (PO2)

To recommend that Overstrand Parish Hall is retained as the designated Polling Station for the civil parish of Overstrand (PO2).

Hoveton (HT4)

To recommend that The Broadland Youth and Community Centre is used on a trial basis as the Polling Place and Polling Station for the civil parish of Hoveton (HT4) at the forthcoming Local Elections in May with an evaluation taking place after the election.

Holkham (WH1)

To recommend that The Ancient House is used for parish polling for the civil parish of Holkham (WH1) at the Local Elections being held on Thursday 4^th May 2023. Following an evaluation we will look to formally re-designating the polling station to The Ancient House at the next full review of the district arrangements.

North Walsham North (NWW2)

To recommend that St Benets Hall be designated as the Polling Place and Polling Station for the North ward of the civil parish of North Walsham with immediate effect.

The Leader introduced this item. He thanked officers for their hard work on this and said it had been complex and challenging.

The Chairman invited members to speak:

Cllr A Fitch-Tillett said she wanted to pay tribute to the Elections Team Leader for working with Overstrand Parish Council to change the original proposal to one that they were happy with.

Cllr N Dixon referred to the proposals for Hoveton and page 29 of the report. He said new information had come to light which could impact on the choice of location for the polling station. He explained that the report indicated that there was a hire cost of £1000 per day to use the village hall and this was stated as being prohibitively expensive and that was why the Broadland Youth and Community Centre was proposed. Cllr Dixon said that this was incorrect and that the hire charge for the village hall was £10 per hour and he question how this error had occurred, whilst acknowledging that the references in the report to the good relationship that had developed between the Elections team and the Broadland Youth and Community Centre. He added that there was more car parking at the village hall and this would make it a better venue and proposed that an amendment was made to revert use the village hall as the polling station for Hoveton.

The Chief Executive said that this was a legitimate request and said that additional communication had since been received from the Village Hall Committee confirming the hire charge of £10 ph. There was therefore no issue with retaining the village hall as the polling station for Hoveton.

Cllr N Dixon proposed the following amendment: ‘That Hoveton Village Hall is retained as the polling place and polling station for the civil parish of Hoveton (HT4)’.

Cllr L Shires seconded the amendment.

Cllr A Brown referred to the original proposal to relocate the polling station for Thornage to Briningham and he thanked the Elections team for proposing that Gregory’s Barn at Thornage Hall was used instead.

Cllr N Lloyd referred to page 29 and the reference to North Walsham North ward and asked for clarification. The Chief Executive replied that this was a town council ward and not a District council ward.

It was proposed by Cllr T Adams, seconded by Cllr A Brown and

RESOLVED to approve the following recommendations (as amended)

Thornage (STO7)

To recommend that Gregories Barn, Thornage Hall is designated the Polling Place and Polling Station for the civil parish of Thornage (STO7) replacing the existing arrangement at Thornage All Saints Church with immediate effect.

Overstrand (PO2)

To recommend that Overstrand Parish Hall is retained as the designated Polling Station for the civil parish of Overstrand (PO2).

Hoveton (HT4)

To recommend that Village Hall is used as the Polling Place and Polling Station for the civil parish of Hoveton (HT4) at the forthcoming Local Elections in May.

Holkham (WH1)

To recommend that The Ancient House is used  ...  view the full minutes text for item 136.

To pass the following resolution – if necessary:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) _ of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act.”