Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Carroll and Cllr Marshall.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interest are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

None.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business.  Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear.  New items will be dealt with at the end of the agenda.

None.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, paragraph 29 of the Council’s constitution.

None received.

To consider and comment on proposals within the draft Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy 2015/16 to 2017/18.                                   

The panel scrutinised savings and investment proposals as set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan that fell within its remit. These were:

• Priority 4 - Drive growth and employment from which everyone can benefit – proposals 46-48 (planning) and 53 (regeneration);

• Priority 5 - Create homes and communities where people chose to live and are able to thrive – proposals 56-66 (housing);

• Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme.

Priority 4 (Planning) - Item 46: Increased income through new advice and review of existing charges (£75,000 saving)

• The planning service currently provides a verbal, free pre-application planning advice service to local residents;

• From 2015/16, a new written and chargeable service will be introduced to improve transparency and accountability of planning advice provided;

• The panel noted that a similar charge will also be introduced for Design Panel at a later stage;

• Exact details of charges for pre-application advice service will be agreed by Cabinet.

Agreed: that the proposal be noted.

Priority 4 (Planning) – Item 47: Changes to policy and practice to remove non statutory consultation (£50,000 saving)

• Planning service currently sends out 175,000 planning notification letters each year which exceeds the statutory minimum (e.g. 4,000 letters sent out for Hornsey Depot Consultation though only 280 were statutorily required);

• From 2016/17 the volume of letters sent will be reduced (subject to confirmation within the revision of the Statement of Community Involvement);

• There will be greater use of web based consultation methods as new systems will be developed (with Northgate);

• A new My Haringey account will be developed for residents where they will be able to receive planning notifications in a particular area.

Agreed: that the proposal be noted.

Priority 4 (Planning) – Item 48: Wider restructure reducing core service (£75,000 saving)

• There is currently a team of officers preparing local plans many of which are temporary and agency staff;

• Workforce demands will be reduced once area plans have been produced and adopted (in year 3).

Agreed: that the proposal be noted.

Priority 4 (Regeneration) – Item 53: Tottenham team increased staffing resource (£250,000 investment)

• This proposal will increase capacity within the Tottenham regeneration team, in particular to project officer support to Area Managers and a GIS officer.

• It is expected that this investment will pay for itself provided that it speeds up regeneration plans (e.g. earlier benefits of new development and regeneration).

Agreed: that the proposal be noted.

Priority 5 (Housing, General Fund) – Item 56: Implement selective licensing across the borough (investment £100,000 year 1 and year 2, increased income £950,000 year 3)

• A investment of £200,000 to set up a selective licensing scheme for all rental properties required for years 1 and 2 will be offset by income from landlord registration of £950,00 in year 3;

• This will be a cost neutral position as income will be used to support enforcement activities (e.g. health and safety inspections);

• Learning from other boroughs (Newham,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.