The
Cabinet Member for Economic Investment, Social Inclusion and
Planning joined the meeting and gave an overview of the key
projects being worked on in his portfolio area. Key recent developments were the successful
negotiations between the Council and the GLA, culminating in a
£41m regeneration package for Tottenham. Also Tottenham Hotspur Football Club were now
committed to staying in the borough and redeveloping their ground
following negotiations with the Council and GLA. The Cabinet Member
for Economic Investment, Social Inclusion and Planning was
committed to ensuring that there was a consistent coherent
regeneration of the Tottenham area. There would be a report to the
Cabinet meeting, on the 7th February, setting out the
priorities for Tottenham which included an initial indicative list
of requirements for the area with information on the process to
achieve them and a map of what will happen over the coming
year. Following this report, the
Council would launch a master planning exercise for Tottenham which
will further initiate detailed consultations on the proposals for
the Tottenham area with the public and partners.
The
Cabinet Member for Economic Investment, Social Inclusion and
Planning further spoke of the Leisure externalisation process which
was at the competitive dialogue stage and development of community
hubs with wrap around services.
The following information was noted
in response to questions
- The
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club planning application was due to be
considered by the Planning Committee on the 13th
February and the papers were available for public view. They
contained an indication that space was allocated for health,
education and a supermarket but as yet there were no details on who
was proposed to be placed in these spaces. Previous section 106 funding agreements between
the football club and Council were proposed to the Planning
Committee for revision. This would enable the redevelopment of the
stadium and draw in £400m of investment to the
area. The
Committee were asked to note
that, before reaching this agreement
with Tottenham Hotspur Football
club, the Council had
commissioned specialist
advice which concluded that the
Club had a financial plan that had
a reasonable prospect of supporting a viable and
implementable development in the
Northumberland Park area and with
the Council’s public investment had the potential to lever in
further wider investment into the
area.
- In
response to a question about the how the Area Forums take forward
the neighbourhood plans, which are part of the localism act, this
was quite a broad issue and there were a number of different
officers leading on the different
areas of the localism act. The Assistant Director for Planning,
Economy and Regeneration was leading on Neighbourhood plans and
they were examining the Highgate cross Neighbourhood
Forum.
- In
terms of planning enforcement, the Committee were asked to keep in
mind the severe reduction in officers working in this area of work.
Although the annual monitoring report was indicating that the
service was meeting its targets for planning enforcement despite
this. There was an acknowledgement that
there were different types of planning enforcement issues faced in
each area of the borough and the AD for
Planning, Economy and Regeneration would be speaking further with
the Leader of the Council about further
funding for planning enforcement. There
were examples of enforcement action going to Regulatory Committee
as timing was a key element in pursuing cases which could be
checked outside of the meeting.
- In
relation to making sure that unemployment is tackled alongside the
regeneration in Tottenham, it was crucial to invest in
infrastructure. Although transport links in the area were good
there was still a need to improve the frequency of trains passing
through Tottenham over ground stations to get people to
work. The Cabinet Member along with
colleagues in Enfield would be trying to influence train
contractors, in the next contract renewal process in early 2012, to
make their trains stop more frequently in Tottenham and
Enfield. There was also investment due
in the Tottenham Hale Gyratory, Tottenham Hale station and its bus
stops.
- In
relation to housing in Tottenham, feedback from local people showed
that a stronger mix of housing stock together with improvements to
existing housing stocks was wanted.
- The
report on tackling worklessness was to
be considered at the March Cabinet and would contain information
about funding from the New Jobs fund being used to tackle
worklessness in Tottenham. The Cabinet report took forward the
recommendations from the previous Scrutiny review on the Haringey
Guarantee.
- There
were plans to make 639 High Road an employment skills hub which was
visible and accessible to small businesses. There was also a need to take account of the
emerging cultural industries in Tottenham and enable them to
expand. Their presence in an area
was an indicator of sustainability.
- Planning applications from Carpet Right and Aldi were expected to be considered by the Planning
Committee which would bring in regeneration and jobs to the local
area.
- The
Cabinet Member for Economic Investment, Social Inclusion and
Planning was meeting each month with the AD for Planning, Economy
and Regeneration to examine the planning applications coming
through and where planning powers could be used to enable
applications that will bring employment, to the area, to progress
to the Committee. A report to Cabinet
in March would also look at procurement and the support to local
businesses to maximise upon local opportunities for
contracts.
- The
Child Poverty strategy was in the process of being refreshed and
the aim was to improve the co-ordination between the child poverty
strategy and the social inclusion strategy as they were
interlinked.
- A
member of the Committee spoke of the need for the Council having a
clear position on the regeneration of the St Ann’s Hospital
site. The Chair advised the Cabinet Member about the benefit of
having a steering group to co-ordinate and provide a political
steer to the development of this site.
RESOLVED that the following actions be delegated to the
appropriate directorate/ officers:
-
Following the approval of funding for Tottenham High
Road Regeneration by the Mayor and the late approval of town centre
funding for Green Lanes, the Cabinet Member For Economic Investment
and Social Inclusion and Planning was happy to meet with the
Muswell Hill Traders to explain the
circumstances behind the funding approval for Green Lanes and the
priority given to Tottenham High Road. He further offered to
discuss with Cllr Engert the suggested use of the land behind
Muswell Hill Library and
its capital funding position.(Action 94.1) Cllr Engert
-
The Cabinet Member Economic Investment and Social
Inclusion and Planning agreed to meet with Bruce Grove Councillors
to discuss in more detail how to improve the area around Bruce
Grove market.(Action 94.2) Cllr
Ejiofor
The
Chair thanked the Cabinet Member Economic
Investment and Social Inclusion and Planning for attending the
meeting. He had provided vital assurance and clarity about the
regeneration work in Tottenham.