Venue: Exe Room, Phoenix House
Contact: Julia Stuckey Member Services Officer
Link: audio recording
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APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of substitute Members (if any). Minutes: Apologies were received from Cllr Mrs N Woollatt who was substituted by Cllr R M Deed and from Cllr N A Way. |
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PUBLIC QUESTION TIME To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.
Note: A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item. Minutes: There were no questions from members of the public present. |
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING PDF 142 KB To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the last meeting of this Committee (attached).
The Committee is reminded that only those members of the Committee present at the previous meeting should vote and, in doing so, should be influenced only by seeking to ensure that the minutes are an accurate record.
Minutes: The minutes of the last meeting were approved as a correct record and SIGNED by the Chairman. |
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CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS To receive any announcements that the Chairman of Scrutiny Committee may wish to make. Minutes: The Chairman informed the Committee that the agenda for the next meeting was very light and that he did not consider it necessary for the Committee to meet.
It was RESOLVED that the meeting scheduled for 7th September 2015 be cancelled.
(Proposed by the Chairman)
Note:- Cllr Mrs J Roach requested that her vote against be recorded. |
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NEIL PARISH MP The Committee to welcome the MP and put questions Minutes: The Chairman welcomed the Member of Parliament for the Tiverton and Honiton Constituency, Neil Parish, to the meeting.
Cllr Mrs E Slade asked Mr Parish for his views on the proposed development at Junction 27. She asked if he considered that it be would be beneficial overall to Tiverton, bringing in more investment/tourists or have a negative effect in taking trade/investment away from the town.
Mr Parish explained that he was in favour of the development but felt strongly that any proposal needed to benefit Tiverton and the whole area. There was a lot of passing traffic and it was a good location for either retail or leisure. He did not feel that it needed to be detrimental to Tiverton or Cullompton as a lot of traffic passing Junction 27 wouldn’t have entered the towns anyway. The MP stressed that it was up to the planning authority to make sure that the right facility was put there and that each application should be looked at on its own merit. There was also a need for housing for those to be employed there and he considered that this would be best placed towards Cullompton, rather than at the junction.
Cllr T Snow asked if the potential development of J27 was appropriate without the provision of adequate infrastructure.
Mr Parish replied that recent improvements to Junction 27 had proved successful with traffic flowing well. Discussion took place regarding the time it took for developers to pay Section 106 monies and contributions. Mr Parish said that he would look into this and that perhaps a system could be put in place whereby the local authority led on the infrastructure with a claw back from the developer.
Mr Parish stressed that any development needed to be of benefit to the local area, to local people and to the nearby towns and businesses.
Cllr Mrs J Roach asked Mr Parish if he agreed that enormous sums of public money were being wasted because District and County Councils were all spending money on running their own websites. She said that the functions of County, District and Parish Councils whilst separate at each level were in fact similar in respect of their responsibilities. Could he justify such spending when basic services were being cut?
Mr Parish replied that he did not consider it to be Governments role to tell local authorities how much to spend on websites. He said that he didn’t know how much Mid Devon spent on its website but that the authority did need to let the public know what facilities were available and how to pay for services such as Council Tax. If the money spent was excessive he would be happy to discuss this with the Chief Executive.
Cllr Mrs Roach then asked for the MP’s view on proposed changes to the Right to Buy Scheme for Housing Associations. Mr Parish replied that he was a great believer in people owning their own homes, but he did consider that the policy of ... view the full minutes text for item 46. |