Decisions

The Recommended Minute of Cabinet of 18 September had not been notified for inclusion on the agenda within the statutory deadline.  The Mayor agreed to accept this item onto the agenda as a matter requiring urgent consideration in order that regard be had to their content in reaching its decision.

Councillor Learney, Cabinet Member for Housing and Asset Management, moved that the Recommended Minute (5 and 6) be approved and adopted (seconded by Councillor Thompson, Leader). 

Council proceeded to ask questions and debate the matters in the Report and Recommended Minute.

During questions, clarification was sought with regard to the membership of the Housing New Build Panel.  The Strategic Director Services (Interim) confirmed that would include the Cabinet member for Housing and the Strategic Directors for Services and Resources.  The Strategic Director (Place) would not be involved in the Panel whilst he was formally appointed as a Company Director. Furthermore, an error at paragraph 13.2 should be corrected so that reference to the Housing Scrutiny Panel should read “New Build Panel”.

Council agreed that nominations to the Housing Company Scrutiny Panel should all be in proportion to the political make-up of the Council (two Liberal Democrat and one Conservative) and that Group Managers advise the Strategic Director accordingly

     RESOLVED:

That the Recommended Minute of the Cabinet held 18 September 2019 (as follows) be approved and adopted:

(1)  That Council gives permission to establish a company limited by shares and wholly owned by the Council to deliver and manage units for sub-market rent, shared ownership accommodation and units for outright sale.

(2)  That the Council approves the establishment of the Housing Company Scrutiny Panel and nominates three Members to sit on the Panel.

The meeting adjourned for a comfort break between 8.15pm and 8.35pm.

Councillor Humby was not present for this item.

Councillor Green left the meeting before consideration of this item. 

Councillor Weir, Cabinet Member for Local Economy, moved that the Recommended Minute be approved and adopted (seconded by Councillor Learney, Cabinet Member for Housing and Asset Management).

Council proceeded to ask questions and debate the matters in the Report and Recommended Minute.

Members were reminded that the only matters that required its decision in Recommended Minutes of Cabinet were with regard to the Local Enterprise Funding.

          AMENDMENT (1) Councillor Lumby (2) Councillor Godfrey

          Addition of the following words (in bold) at the end of Recommendation 16

“Approval to incur capital expenditure in stages totalling £5m to be funded from the LEP grant recognising the terms and conditions attached to the grant agreement.  Such expenditure will be subject to payback to the LEP should the scheme not progress and achieve the grant objectives.  This approval is subject to the Council requiring that any proposed disposal of the site should be structured so far as possible to ensure a high likelihood of the scheme proceeding within the required period to avoid clawback of the LEP monies.”

The Mayor allowed for an adjournment of the meeting between 9.15pm and 9.30pm so that Cabinet could informally consider the Amendment.

Upon the Mayor reconvening the meeting, Councillor Weir (Cabinet Member for Local Economy) advised that she would be pleased to invite Councillor Lumby to join a team currently producing a report to be considered at Cabinet in October setting out the detail of the evaluation process against criteria for the disposal of the site to a purchaser.  Councillor Weir hoped that, on this basis, Councillor Lumby would reconsider his Amendment.  

On the basis of the Cabinet Member’s statement, the proposer and seconder of the amendment (Councillors Lumby and Godfrey respectively) agreed to withdraw their amendment.

As it was the will of five members present at the meeting, a recorded vote was taken on the Motion to approve the Recommended Minute.

Division Lists

The following Members voted in favour of the motion:

Councillors Achwal, Becker, Bell, Bentote, Brook, Clear, Clementson, Cook, Craske, Cunningham, Cutler, Evans, Gemmell, Godfrey, Gordon-Smith, Hiscock, Horrill, Hutchison, Learney, Lumby, Mather, McLean, Miller, Murphy, Pearson, Porter, Power, Read, Ruffell, Scott, Thompson, Tod, Weir, Weston, Williams.

The following Members voted against the motion:

Councillors Gottlieb.

The following Members abstained:

Councillors Bronk, Fern, Ferguson, Laming, Prince, Rutter.

Motion carried.

RESOLVED:

That the Recommended Minute of the Cabinet held 28 August 2019 (as follows)  be approved and adopted:

(1)  Approval to agree and to enter into the LEP grant agreement for a total sum of £5m based on the Heads of Terms (appendix 6 of Report CAB3172), with final amendments to be delegated to the Strategic Director: Place in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Local Economy.

(2)  Approval to incur capital expenditure in stages totalling £5m to be funded from the LEP grant recognising the terms and conditions attached to the grant agreement and that such expenditure will be subject to payback to the LEP should the scheme not progress and achieve the grant objectives

(Report: CAB3191)

The Strategic Director and Councillor Porter, Cabinet Member for Built Environment and Wellbeing introduced the report which was also due to be presented to Cabinet on the 18 September 2019. The report provided the Forum with a programme for moving forward with Local Plan 2036 and with a particular focus on how the Council would engage with communities and stakeholders across the District.

The Report recognised the role of the Forum and its  input into the local plan process. To achieve this, it was suggested that the  “Vision for Winchester” document be updated given the importance of this to express a range of local aspirations across the WTF area and surroundings which could be used to inform the local plan, where relevant.

To fund an update of the Vision, the report proposed that a budget of £50,000 would be provided from the existing General Fund Local Plan budget and £25,000 from the Town Forum earmarked reserve.

Members debated the proposal and were supportive of it. Councillor Hutchison on behalf of the Planning Informal Group welcomed the proposals. She advised that the Informal group had met a number of times, that they would be preparing a draft brief and were looking forward to taking this piece of work forward.

RESOLVED:

That the Winchester Town Forum considered the paper and provided comments for the Cabinet Member. In particular, the Forum:

•           Supported the proposal to refresh the  ‘Vision for Winchester’ building on the concept of the 2012 Vision document.

•           Agreed that a supplementary budget estimate of up to £25,000 is allocated from Winchester Town Forum earmarked reserve to fund specific city related research and engagement to support this work.

(Report: WTF276)

The Funding and Development Officer and Councillor Weir introduced the report and advised that it was proposed to create a Winchester Town Fund as a specific grant fund to be accessed through the Council’s crowd funding platform.

The Forum, at its meeting of the 17 January 2019 agreed a number of grants which had left £33,000 of the Winchester Town Forum grant budget uncommitted for this financial year. It was proposed that the new crowd funding platform would provide a process for funding specific projects that met outcomes agreed by the Town Forum and would also provide valuable support to organisations applying. The Forum was advised that crowd funding is used by a number of other local authorities and has a number of benefits for the Council and local organisations. Crowd funding suppliers were currently being sourced and it was hoped to have a supplier agreed shortly.

Members welcomed the report and were pleased to see that progress was being made. Members asked a number of questions regarding the types of use for the fund, the sizes of the grants available and the available support to organisations applying.

RESOLVED:

That Winchester Town Forum approve:

a)    The creation of a Town Fund to be made available via the Council’s crowd funding platform.

b)    The Town Fund delivery outcomes of Inclusion, Environment and Well-being, as set out in the Detailed Proposals section, against which grant funding applications are to be assessed.

c)    A match funding limit per project submitted on the crowd funding platform for the Town Fund of 50% or £2,000 which ever is the less.

d)    The match funding contribution from the Town Fund would only be offered when the project has secured, from the public investment pledges, a value of 25% of the target total project expenditure.  

e)    The option to revise or withdraw the grant offer of match funding contribution if the organisation fund raising for the project fails to reach its stated target expenditure.

f)     That one project per organisation in a single financial year is eligible for funding through the Town Fund.

g)    That authority is delegated to Corporate Head of Service for Engagement to approve grant allocation and to enter into grant agreement, monitor and in circumstances where reasonable and grant offer criteria and conditions are not met to withdraw from the funding arrangement.