Agenda item

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting. 

The scrutiny officer to the Panel advised that some minor amends had been made to item 49 in the minutes of the previous meeting held on 21^st Feb 2019 which related to a deputation on the issue of Wards Corner. The amendments were to add details of the occupations/roles of the people who spoke to the Panel and to add emphasis to make it clearer that comments made were from the deputation and not from the Panel Members. With these minor amends added the minutes were agreed as an accurate record.

The action points from the previous meeting were then discussed. Following a deputation on child yield figures used for new housing developments at the Panel’s meeting on 15^th January 2019, the Chair of the Panel had written to the Leader of the Council recommending that the new figures be adopted by Haringey Council. In his response letter to the Chair of the Panel, the Leader of the Council had stated that the Council will be commencing a Local Plan review in October and that as part of this Haringey will be carrying out research along similar lines to Merton Council to establish a ‘Haringey Child Yield’. A timetable for this work would be confirmed in due course.

In response to a question from the Panel, Dan Hawthorn, Director of Housing, Regeneration & Planning said that Merton Council has carried out their own local research in order to set an evidence-based local policy, otherwise the default position would be to use the GLA calculator. Haringey is proposing to replicate this method of research to establish the local conditions on which future calculations should be based.

Asked how long it would take to establish this policy using new calculations and hearing concerns from Panel Members that the process could take as long as three or four years, Dan Hawthorn acknowledged that changes to planning policy can take a long time due to the need to establish that there is a sound evidence base but that four years is over pessimistic and that two years may be more realistic. It isn’t always necessary to wait until the end of that process before the new calculations can be used because the policy gains more weight the further it gets through the process. A more detailed response could be obtained from Emma Williamson, Assistant Director for Planning, who was not present at the meeting. (ACTION) Cllr Williams suggested that a political steer would also be needed from the Cabinet Member for Planning.

There had also been a number of other action points from the previous meeting on 21^st February 2019:

·         The Panel asked to receive the minutes that the meeting between Grainger and the Wards Corner market traders on 12^th February 2019. The minutes had now been obtained and circulated along with a letter from Grainger to the market traders dated 29^th January 2019. These documents would be considered as part of the Panel’s scrutiny review on Wards Corner.

·         The Panel had asked to receive written responses to questions from the Cabinet Member Questions agenda item that there had not been time to ask. A full list of answers had now been received and would be circulated to Panel Members.

·         The terms of reference for the Tottenham landowners group and the Wood Green landowners group had been circulated to Panel Members as requested. Cllr Gordon expressed concern that paragraph 3.2 of the Wood Green group’s terms of reference stated that the minutes of each meeting should be ratified at the following meeting and then published online, commenting that this would lead to a delay and that draft minutes ought to be published prior to the next meeting in order to improve transparency. Peter O’Brien, Assistant Director for Regeneration, said that he would take this away as a suggestion for the group when the group reconvenes. The group as it is not currently holding meetings as the Wood Green Area Action Plan (AAP) is currently on hold and no date has been set for the next meeting. Asked why Ward Councillors were not being involved in the Wood Green landowners forum, Peter O’Brien said that this was the position taken by Members at the Housing & Regeneration sub-group of Cab. Cllr Gordon proposed that the suggestion that Ward Councillors should be involved should be raised with the Housing & Regeneration sub-group of Cab. (ACTION)

·         A report including details of the timetable for the 16-month process required to change the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) rate, initially published in the Panel’s agenda pack in January, had been recirculated.

·         Further information had been requested on the review of the management process of CIL and the single integrated plan for the future of the Broadwater Farm estate but neither of these were available yet.

AGREED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 21^st February 2019 be approved as an accurate record.

AGREED: That a further response on the timetable for implementation of a new policy on child yield calculations be obtained for discussion at the Panel’s next meeting in June 2019.