Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Town Hall, High Street, Maidstone

Contact: Tessa Mallett  01622 602524

Items
No. Item

176.

The Committee to consider whether all items on the agenda should be webcast

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the item set out in Part II of the Agenda not be web cast because of the likely disclosure of exempt information for the reasons specified having applied the public Interest Test – 3 Financial and Business Affairs.

 

177.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors:

 

·  Martin Round

·  Nick De Wiggondene

·  Clive English

·  James Willis

 

Councillor Powell was absent.

 

178.

Notification of Substitute Members

Minutes:

·  Councillor Collins was present as substitute for Councillor Round.

·  Councillor Wilson was present as substitute for Councillor English.

 

179.

Notification of Visiting Members

Minutes:

There were no visiting members present.

 

180.

Disclosures by Members and Officers

Minutes:

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

 

181.

To consider whether any items should be taken in private because of the possible disclosure of exempt information

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  that the public be excluded from the meeting for the item set out in Part II of the agenda because of the likely disclosure of exempt information for the reason specified (Financial and Business Affairs) having applied the Public Interest Test.

 

182.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 March 2015 pdf icon PDF 67 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

183.

Change to the order of the agenda

Minutes:

RESOLVED: that the Committee take the Part II agenda item, Item 11 Bus Shelters as the first item on the agenda.

 

184.

Exclusion of the public from the meeting

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business because of the likely disclosure of exempt information for the reason specified having applied the Public Interest Test:

 

 

Head of Schedule 12A and

Brief Description

 

Report of the Property and Procurement Manager, David Tibett on the results of the Bus Shelter Provision tender exercise February 2015

3 – Financial and Business Affairs

 

185.

Bus shelters

A report from David Tibbett, Property and Procurement Manager on the results of the bus shelter tender exercise February 2015.

 

Minutes:

David Tibett, Property and Procurement Manager presented his report which considered the options for replacement of the advertising and non-advertising bus shelters provided by JC Decaux (JCD) following the termination of the contract with JCD.

 

Mr Tibett explained that the contract with JCD ran from 1999 to December 2014 and was in an extended period while the council found a new contractor.  JCD had made the decision to concentrate their business in large city centres.

 

JCD retained ownership of the existing shelters and would remove them once the tendering exercise was completed.  Mr Tibett explained bus shelters would be out of commission for no more than a day while they were being replaced.

 

The Committee considered the options presented.

 

The Committee agreed protection from the weather with wider panels was essential as was seating provided the footpath was wide enough.

 

Mr Tibbet confirmed that all the shelters presented would have the necessary components to enable real time information displays to be added at a future date if required.

 

RESOLVED: That the Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transport Committee be recommended to receive a report by the Property and Procurement Manager on the commission and installation of the Heritage bus shelters throughout the borough (88 in number) where the location is suitable and include:

·  Flat seating

·  6mm safety glass (subject to costs being agreed)

·  Coloured – Maidstone blue

·  The gap between the roof and the sides being closed

·  Replacements are ‘made good’ to a high standard

 

186.

Re-admittance of the public to the meeting

Minutes:

RESOLVED: that the public be readmitted to the meeting.

 

187.

Future GP and Health Service Capacity in Maidstone - Interviews with representatives from West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (WKCCG) pdf icon PDF 42 KB

The Committee to interview:

 

·  Gail Arnold, Deputy Accountable Officer / Chief Operating Officer, WKCCG;

·  Ian Ayres, AccountableOfficer, WKCCG, and;

·  Multi Varshney, Consultant in Public Health, WKCCG.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting representatives from the West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (WKCCG), Ian Ayres, Accountable Officer and Malti Varshney, Consultant in Public Health.

 

The Chairman explained a pre-meeting, with Mr Ayres, Ms Varshney, the Head of Planning and Development, the Committee Chairman and Vice Chairman, had been held on Friday 17 April 2015.  The purpose of the meeting was to provide Mr Ayres and Ms Varshney with the background to the request for them to attend the meeting.

 

Ms Arnold, Deputy Accountable Officer/Chief Operating Officer had sent her apologies.

 

Mr Ayres explained that three to four years ago responsibility for reviewing the requirements for primary care sat with Primary Care Trusts.  The Health and Social Care Act 2013 moved this responsibility to NHS England.  Since then it had become clear that the work had not been carried out and NHS England wanted to hand the responsibility to the Clinical Commissioning Groups by 2016.

 

Mr Ayres went on to explain that WKCCG had assumed they would be given responsibility for reviewing future requirements for primary care in the area and had been working on a strategy to meet the needs of future development in their areas of responsibility.  Mr Ayres stated the strategy would be in a shareable format by autumn 2015.

 

Malti Varshney addressed the Committee and explained the background to public health in West Kent which concentrated on health improvement, health protection and clinical advice, for example demographics and diseases.

 

Ms Varshney outlined her plans to produce a Health Impact Assessment which would look at health care and wellbeing and what aspects to include in the planning process.  Ms Varshney stated she would be happy to work with planners of major developments to explain how to carry out the assessments.

 

Mr Ayres stated that, by autumn 2015, WKCCG would be in a position to join conversations on how to catch up with provision from the past three to four years and negotiate with GPs on extending provision using Section 106 funds.  He thought it would take two years for the provision to be in place.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That the Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transport Committee be recommended to invite Ian Ayres, Accountable Officer and Malti Varshney, Consultant in Public Health from West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group to their meeting in November 2015 in order that they can update the Committee on progress with their strategy for the provision of GP surgeries and health care in the borough taking into account development growth and the use of Section 106 contributions from developers.

 

2.  That the Head of Planning and Development circulate an action plan to members of the Planning, Transport and Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee showing the use and allocation of existing Section 106 monies and how they will be used locally for GP and health care provision.

 

 

 

188.

Update report: Invicta Barracks pdf icon PDF 41 KB

A written report to the Committee covering Invicta Barracks and its status in the draft Local Plan by Steve Clarke, Principal Planning Officer, Spatial Planning.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Rob Jarman, Head of Planning and Development and Steve Clarke, Principal Planning Officer, Spatial Planning to the meeting.

 

Mr Clarke presented his report and explained that Invicta Barracks had been identified as one of three ‘broad locations’ for further housing growth in the draft Local Plan (Regulation 18).  These locations would deliver housing in the latter years of the Plan from 2026 onwards.  These sites would be presented to the Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transport Committee in the new municipal year.

 

Mr Clarke went on to explain that the wording in the draft policy had been agreed with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) who had identified the site as a ‘retained’ site in their estates review of 2013.  This meant the MOD required the site for the foreseeable future (around 10 years). However, the MOD may or may not decide to dispose of it.

 

The Committee raised concerns about the number of new homes the site was described as being able to deliver (1300) as the site was approximately 75% green space with a Grade II listed building on the site.  The Committee also raised concerns that the site was described as a brownfield site.

 

Mr Jarman explained that with good design the density of the development could be overcome.  The broad location of 1300 was indicative and the policy could be directly linked to a design brief showing the parts of the site not to be developed.  Mr Jarman went on to say that there were very good grounds to protect the site and come up with more balanced language to explicitly protect the natural and semi-natural open space.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That Maidstone Borough Council re-assesses the appropriate use of land in the Maidstone built up area while recognising the serious lack of natural and semi-natural open space in this area of Maidstone.

 

2.  That Maidstone Borough Council Officers, as soon after the elections in May 2015 as possible, arrange a meeting at the Invicta Barrack site with MOD Officials and Councillors to assess and establish the area required to provide natural and semi-natural open space on the site and where suitable areas are for development on the site.

 

189.

SCRAIP Update Report 2014/15 pdf icon PDF 41 KB

Committee to consider the SCRAIP report attached at Appendix A, showing all the recommendations made by the Committee for the 2014-2015 municipal year with Officer responses to date.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That the Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transport Committee be recommended to receive the SCRAIP report attached as Appendix A to this agenda item to review the recommendations that will need further consideration under their terms of reference.

 

190.

Duration of meeting

Minutes:

18:30hrs to 22:00hrs