Agenda item

(Report Ref: SC065 and CAB3342)

RECOMMENDATION:

It is recommended that scrutiny committee comment on the proposals within the attached cabinet report, ref CAB3342, which will be subject to final review and amendment before being considered by cabinet at its meeting on the 9 March 2022.

Councillor Learney, Cabinet Member for Housing and Asset Management and the Strategic Director introduced the report, ref CAB3342, available here and provided the committee with a summary of the proposed decision, including its recent history, its links to council policies, the proposals regarding the skate park and the wider benefits to the district of the proposal. 

The Strategic Director responded to the points raised by the two public speakers and the Chairperson subsequently invited the public speakers to address the committee again. Ms Burns spoke further regarding the proposals put forward by the FoRP).

The report sought the committee's views regarding the draft cabinet report and specifically the draft recommendations on page 48 of the agenda pack and members were advised that Mr Hutchings QC and other officers were in attendance to respond to their questions.

The committee proceeded to ask questions and debate the application in detail. In summary, questions regarding the following matters were raised.

• Consideration of and responses to the various strands of community engagement, i.e., petitions and letters from residents
• Clarifying the process being proposed including future stages and further opportunities for alternative proposals to come forward
• Dealing with resident’s concerns, undertaking further discussions with them, and involving residents from across the district 
• The difficulties of undertaking a consultation at this stage
• The ability of others to put forward alternative proposals
• The distinction and separation of the council's role as a landowner and local planning authority
• The function of the council’s Planning committee within this process
• The criteria to be applied in moving to the appropriation stage and clarifying who the decision taker was for that stage
• The impact on the site value once all constraints were factored in
• Other liabilities that were the responsibility of the council
• Clarifying the covenant on the land and its implications
• Confirming that the car park was not free to use.
• Understanding why the skate park was not excluded from the lease arrangements.
• Amending the report to give a clearer financial statement
• Understanding the non-financial benefits further, including community and environmental benefits.
• Clarifying the concerns over any future, further land appropriation
• Understanding whether the timescales were realistic and were parties incentivised to meet them
• Confirming the process regarding the publication of notices
• Council actions following receipt of the pre-action protocol letter from the FoRP
• Living accommodation for future students
• The commitment of the University to this site and discussing with the University over their plans for resident engagement
• Mitigating future legal challenges
• The appropriate delegation level for recommendation 3
• Reasons for why the lease only restricts the use of the site for the first 35 years
• Clarification regarding the covenant and the term “industrial dwellings”

These points were responded to by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Asset Management, Matthew Hutchings QC, and officers accordingly. The committee agreed to move into an exempt session to consider the exempt appendix to the report before returning to the open session to debate the report further and to agree the following:

RESOLVED:  

The committee agreed the following comments be passed to cabinet

That:

1.    The report provides further clarification of the sequencing of key milestones, particularly referring to pages 55 and 71 of the report pack.

2.    Paragraph 4.5 be amended to reflect that the car park is not a free car park for people visiting local shops and businesses.

3.    That additional information be provided to set out a clearer, single summary of financial impacts

4.    Discussions are held with the University of Southampton regarding their plans for proactive engagement with residents of the district.

5.    That the importance of achievement of net-zero be emphasised.

6.    To draw to the attention of the cabinet that this was a significant decision to take whilst some elements were still unknown.

7.    Cabinet considers all the committee’s comments raised during the discussion of the item.