Apologies were received from Cllr E Seward.

None received.

None.

The Chairman, Cllr S Butikofer, invited the Chief Executive to speak on this item. He explained that the Project Governance Management Framework had been considered by Cabinet, Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Governance, Risk & Audit Committee (GRAC) in February and March 2021. It had been produced to reflect the outcomes and recommendations from Audit reviews to ensure transparency and oversight of key projects. Referring to page 9, which outlined the process for the review of projects via Overview & Scrutiny Panels, the Chief Executive explained that he had met with the Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Democratic Services and the Corporate Business Manager to discuss how the panels would relate to the Cabinet Working Party. The Working Party had been set up to ensure that main Cabinet meetings were not overloaded. It was anticipated that it  would meet quarterly to receive project updates. He explained that each project had a project lead – usually a director or assistant director and a named Cabinet member who would be the project sponsor.

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee would have an opportunity to review and comment via the Panels. The Panels had not been established yet and it had been agreed that one panel would be established initially as a pilot and there would be a further discussion with the Chairman and the Leader to ensure that the Cabinet and Overview & Scrutiny work programmes were more closely aligned going forwards and that the added value of the scrutiny mechanism was fully understood.

The Leader agreed that the work programmes should interlink and ensure effectiveness. Cllr Dixon, Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee said that the committee had had a discussion on the establishment of O&S panels but at the time there had not been sufficient agreement to move forwards. There had been a consensus to pilot a panel , as outlined by the Chief Executive, and develop the model further as projects progressed and additional capacity was needed. He said he hoped that more focussed discussion could take place via the panel.

The Leader invited the Cabinet Portfolio Holder to introduce each project in turn:

1.     North Walsham High Street Heritage Action Zone

Cllr R Kershaw, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Growth, introduced the report. He said that the consultation on the town centre placemaking proposals had just finished and there was a meeting scheduled for that evening with local businesses. Some risks to the overall project had been identified, including supply chain issues in the construction industry. The Assistant Director for Sustainable Growth added that the Heritage Action Zone was a multi-faceted project and there were additional risks regarding finance and the constraints that the external funding placed on delivery of the project. He said that he was confident that these could be worked around as the Council had a good dialogue with external funding partners. He said that the substantive feedback from the place-making consultation would inform the scheme that would be taken forward through the traffic order regulation process.

Cllr A Fitch-Tillett referred to page 15 and the deadline of February 2022 for the spending of funding from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). She asked whether this was still achievable. The Assistant Director for Sustainable Growth replied that the Council was working with them to identify ways in which a resolution could be reached. He said that the programme prepared by the Council’s consultants outlining the delivery programme was being shared with the New Anglia LEP. He said that there was a similar risk regarding the Historic England funding which was divided into different years. He said that they could be flexible about the use of the funding but not the amount that had to be spent each year. It was likely that the most flexible part of the funding (NNDC’s allocation) last and the constrained funding (external partners) first.

2.     Fakenham A148 Roundabout

Cllr J Toye, Portfolio Holder for Planning said that the main issue was that the project could not be delivered as early as first thought due to the summer embargo on roadworks on key routes. The completion date was now set for March 2023.

The Director of Resources said that outline planning permission had now been granted for the Fakenham urban extension and this project was to deliver a new roundabout as part of the infrastructure for the site.  Of the 950 homes, 157 (16.5%) would be affordable homes. It was hoped to leverage in a further 18 units (2%).

A capital contribution of £1.8m, of which NNDC was contributing £900k. In addition a further £0.4k had been received from the Norfolk Strategic Fund and £0.5k from the Business Rates Pool.  He concluded by saying that there had been some delays to the overall project as it was the biggest housing delivery programme that the District had seen and the scheme was complex, with constraints around highway works during the summer season. He concluded by saying that the legal agreement with the site owners was currently being finalised.

The Leader said she was pleased  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.