Issue - meetings

To receive a verbal update on current and future work.

The Chair welcomed Councillor Strickland (Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Social Inclusion) and Bernadette Marjoram (Assistant Director, Major Projects).

Councillor Strickland updated the Committee on various aspects of his portfolio.

NOTED

Planning Service

·          A programme of improvement had begun with the Director of Place and Sustainability to secure the changes that members want to see.

·          Following the implementation of the plan and staff changes, performance on major applications improved significantly.  Performance so far was up 56% for applications going through in 13 weeks against the Government target of 60%.

·          There was a new process for dealing with major applications – special team of officers.

·          Design seminars for planning staff were taking place – Members expect the quality of design to go up in borough.

·          Councillor Strickland was chairing a cross-party group who were going through current policies.

·          There would be a Scrutiny project to look at planning services and how they engage with communities and members.

Culture

·          Councillor Strickland was keen to develop a proper plan for borough and was about to start a cross-party group supported by specialist advisor to look at this. 

Regeneration across the Borough

·          The CrossRail 2 development was a significant opportunity for regeneration.  A number of different routes had been discussed.

·          Councillor Strickland was working with a consortium to lobby for the Route ‘B’.

·          It was important that there was a clear and coherent regeneration policy for the whole borough.

Tottenham Regeneration

·          Bernadette Marjoram had been appointed to the Council in January 2013.  Her work involved updating the Tottenham Plan to integrate the socio-economic aspects.  It was important to remember that while the long term plans were being worked through, there would still be local residents living in the area who would be affected by the regeneration.

·          Planning permission had been granted for Wards Corner.

·          Tottenham Hale - £20m of TFL money had been provided for Tottenham Hale station.

·          Good progress had been made in Tottenham so far – Tottenham gyratory work had started, Wards Corner planning permission had been granted, a full time Tottenham High Road manager had been employed and £50k had been allocated for West Green Road.

·          The Delivery Plan was in the process of being radically reviewed in order to bring the socio-economic elements into the programme.  The new version would be presented to OSC when it has been drafted to open the debate with OSC members.

·          A new Comms officer had been appointed to the Regeneration team and a strategic communications plan was being worked on.

·          A programme for each area was being worked on within the overall plan – this aimed to give greater accountability to what was happening with services within an area e.g. enforcement and waste management.

·          Regular meetings take place with partners including the police and HAVCO.

Councillor Newton referred to the plans for 40-50 Council properties in Woodside Avenue, Muswell Hill – an area with an acute shortage of school places – and asked whether the number of school places (or lack thereof) was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 195