To receive a verbal update on current and future work.
Minutes:
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 taken into consideration when looking at potential sites for development. Councillor Strickland agreed to look into the issue in more detail and report back to Councillor Newton.
ACTION: Councillor Strickland
Councillor Winskill referred to the Full Council debate 18 months ago on the plans for Tottenham Regeneration, and asked what stage the Tottenham Plan was at, who had ownership and what were the landmarks. He also referred to the Lipton report and asked what Councillor Strickland’s response was to the recommendations set out in it.
Councillor Strickland explained that after the riots, Ann Lippitt had been appointed at project director for the regeneration along with a small team. The Tottenham Task Force also looked at issues and this lead to the development of the Plan. Bernadette Marjoram had since picked up the work started by Ann Lipptt and the team had increased. Bernadette was looking at the plan in a broader sense to build a wider regeneration strategy and delivery plan. Bernadette explained that she was speaking to partners to involve them in the plan, but this involvement required implementing proper arrangements. The Chief Executive was committed to ensuring that the organisation was focussed and wants all services to work together to see what can be done to develop Tottenham.
There was currently no mechanism for complete transparency with regards to what work was being carried out and by whom. This was part of the programme of work carried out by Bernadette to ensure that this information would be available. This would take time to put together due to the organisational challenge.
With regards to the Lipton report, Councillor Strickland explained that the response from the Council was that they would be working with the GLA to look at the challenges. A joint strategic forum had been set up and was chaired by the Leader of the Council and the deputy Mayor. The forum would be tasked with looking at the bigger recommendations in the Lipton report in terms of other governance models.
The OSC raised concerns about a new structure being put in place and requested a short briefing be sent to Members on the new and forthcoming structures relating to Tottenham Regeneration. It was requested that this include the membership and who they were accountable to.
ACTION: Councillor Strickland
Councillor Adamou asked how the Council worked with Housing Associations, especially with regard to those who lost their homes in the riots. Members of the public had reported issues with regarding to being moved about from home to home, not being communicated with and left with a feeling that they had been let down. Councillor Adamou wanted to know how the Council made sure that housing partners were dealing with tenants and housing them in the appropriate way. Councillor Strickland asked for specific details to be sent to him or Bernadette for further investigation.
The Chair thanked Councillor Strickland and Bernadette Marjoram for attending.