Agenda and minutes

Members to note any apologies and substitution.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors John Caswell, Sadik Chaudhury, David Palethorpe and Portia Wilson.

Members to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 5^th August 2008.

COPY TO FOLLOW

Subject to the following amendment, the minutes of the meeting held on 5 August 2008 were signed by the Chair as a true record: -

Mr Swinn informed Councillors that the Housing and Regeneration Bill has received Royal Assent……………

The Chair to note public address requests

Mr Chris Swinn addressed the Committee on agenda item 5 – Review – Partnership working with West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC)

Members to state any interests.

There were none.

Members to receive and consider witness evidence in relation to this review.

Mr Chris Swinn addressed the Committee advising Councillors of his concerns regarding the governance arrangements for WNDC.  He was particularly concerned that Councillors, who are no longer elected Members, are still members of the Board to WNDC.  He concluded by expressing his concerns regarding less frequent Board meetings.

Mr Swinn was thanked for his address.

The Chair reminded Councillors that this item had been part of the Committee’s Work Programme for some time and that it had been agreed that the whole Committee would carry out the Review rather than set up a Task and Finish Group to carry out the work.  The need for the Review had arisen from the previous work of this Committee, in particular the Historic Buildings Task and Finish Group that had looked at the proposed Needles sculpture as well as historic building protection and WNDC’s role, and also monitoring of Planning Performance Indicators.  Past work had suggested a Review into WNDC’s performance and how it works with NBC would be beneficial to both organisations.

The objective of this Review is to establish how well WNDC is performing and how well Northampton Borough Council and WNDC are working together in Partnership to deliver the regeneration, planning and growth objectives for the town.

The Chair advised that many witnesses had been contacted to provide evidence, either written or oral, but some of the evidence was still awaited, therefore, there was the need for a further meeting to consider this.  The additional meeting would be dedicated purely to evidence gathering for this Review.

Councillor Richard Church, Portfolio Holder, addressed the Committee.  A copy of Councillor Church’s written response to the Committee’s core questions is attached to the minutes.

Supplementary questions were put to Councillor Church:

Councillor Church advised that he felt that the Council should support West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) in its lobbying for adequate funding.

QUESTION (Q)

Q            If WNDC did not receive adequate funding, what would the impact be on its partners regarding the delivery of various projects?

Response:

There is no impact on partnership working at present but it could have an impact over time on key project delivery and could lead to houses being built and the infrastructure following on.

Q            Overview and Scrutiny needs to be clear of the problems that are in existence

Response:

The main issue is to improve on the arrangements currently in place.

Q            Are there any formal documents in place to support the Partnership arrangement, such as a Memorandum of Understanding?

Response:

I am not aware of any such document in existence; however, discussions are taking place regarding the establishment of a Joint Arrangement Protocol.

Q            Is it correct that WNDC does not reject a planning application but defers consideration to the next meeting?  Does WNDC have the powers to reject a planning application?

Response:

If WNDC’s Planning Officers make a recommendation to WNDC’s Planning Committee that a planning application is approved, but the Committee is minded to reject the application, consideration of that item is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Councillor Portia Wilson, Northampton Borough Council’s representative to Northamptonshire County Council’s Healthier Communities Scrutiny Committee, to report back to this Committee

ITEM WITHDRAWN

Consideration of this item was withdrawn.

This item is for business that by reasons of the special circumstances to be specified, the Chair is of the opinion is of sufficient urgency to consider.   Members or officers that wish to raise urgent items are to inform the Chair in advance.

There were none.