Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of substitute Members (if any).

There were no apologies or substitute Members.

Cllrs Mrs E J Lloyd and A Wilce attended virtually.

To record any interests on agenda matters.

Members were reminded of the need to make declarations where appropriate

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.

There were no questions from members of the public present.

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meetings held on 25^th July 2022 and 21^st September 2022

The minutes of the meetings held on 25^th July 2022 and 21^st September 2022 were approved as a correct record and SIGNED by the Chairman.

To consider any decisions made by the Cabinet at its last meeting that have been called-in.

The Committee NOTED that none of the decisions made by the Cabinet on 4^th October 2022 had been called in.

To receive any announcements that the Chairman of Scrutiny Committee may wish to make.

The Chairman announced that the Policy and Research Officer was leaving the authority and this was her last meeting. A replacement officer would be advised in due course but Members should be aware that there was not currently a resource to continue with any outstanding items.

Members gave a vote of thanks to the officer for her work in assisting the Scrutiny Committee.

Annual Report of Complaints and Compliments

The Committee had before it, and NOTED, a *report from the Corporate Manager for Business Transformation and Community Engagement providing the Annual Report on Compliments, Comments and Complaints.

The officer outlined the contents of the report and highlighted that there had been an increase in the number of complaints received which was due in part to resourcing and capacity issues.

Consideration was given to:

·         There has been a change in the recording of housing complaints

·         More detail would be provided on homelessness, housing repairs and tenant issue complaints

·         More detail would be provided on complaints raised by Members

·         An update would be provided at the January meeting

·         A Project Officer had been recruited which would enable greater analysis of the complaints data

·         Officers would provide more frequent reporting and analysis via Continuous Improvement

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

To receive an initial report from officers explaining the processes for formulating S106 agreements in applications for major developments especially those set out in the adopted Local Plan and the Housing Infrastructure Fund agreement, together with the amounts of money involved and the deployment of this money.

The Committee had before it, and NOTED, a *report from the Development Management Manager on the process for formulating S106 agreements for major developments.

The officer outlined the contents of the report and highlighted that the process was a legislative one and had to meet the statutory tests for the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulations 122.

Consideration was given to:

·         The Governments White Paper ‘Planning for the Future’ dated August 2020 had yet to be brought into legislation

·         There were certain criteria which triggered the requirement for the S106 Board to meet which included over £10k in unallocated monies or competing demand over unallocated monies

·         S106 Governance was due to be reviewed and a report will be presented to Cabinet early next year

·         There were opportunities to enhance the process with strategic development opportunities and engagement with statutory consultees

·         Allocated monies stayed within the local area to the development apart from district wide pots such as affordable housing allocations

·         A members expressed a view that scrutiny of S106 agreements before decisions being made should be the remit of the Planning Committee

·         It was not unusual for unallocated S106 monies to remain unspent but the Authority worked proactively with communities to ensure they were utilised to the benefit of those communities and that the Council was pro-active in ensuring monies collated were spent on appropriate infrastructure

·         The Authority had a published Infrastructure Plan

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

Update on ‘Does Local Government Work for Women’ Spotlight Review recommendations

The Committee had before it, and NOTED, a *report from the Interim Monitoring Officer providing an update with the recommendations made from the spotlight review ‘Does Local Government Work for Women’.

The Policy and Research Officer outlined the contents of the report and highlighted that most of the recommendations would be picked up by the Equality Forum.

Consideration was given to:

·         The recommendations were a work in progress and more work was required to reach out to potential future councillors

·         A new Member induction programme was being worked on with input from previous Members

·         Ultimately it was down to the electorate who they voted onto the Council

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

To review the existing Work Plan and consider items for the committee’s future consideration, taking account of:

(a)       Any items within the Forward Plan for discussion at the next meeting;

(b)       The update from the Policy Research Officer on existing projects and forthcoming matters;

(c)        Suggestions of other work for the committee in 2022/23.

The Committee had before it, and NOTED the *Forward Plan and the *Scrutiny Work Plan.

The Policy and Research Officer gave the following updates:

·         A Spotlight Review into Participatory Budgeting would be conducted in November

·         A visit to an out of district Anaerobic Digester was being arranged and engagement from East Devon District Council was being sought

The following were proposed as possible future work streams:

·         Impact of the cost of living crisis on constituents

·         Role for Parish Council’s in the Planning Process

Note: *Forward Plan and Work Plan previously circulated and attached to the minutes