Cabinet Members will answer questions from Members on their Portfolios.
Minutes:
Councillor R B Evans addressing the Cabinet Member for Finance asked: given the evident importance of the portfolio role you now hold and the financial situation the Authority knowingly faces, can you please confirm the date/s and officer/s whom you have had meetings with in direct relation to this role over the past four months, to include the name of any member/s of the finance team or senior management teams, for clarity, I am not looking for the detail of the meeting just the date and individual/s with whom you met nor am I looking at Cabinet or committee/ PDG meeting attendance as these are recorded and available on the web site.
The Cabinet Member responded stating that he noted the importance of the finance portfolio and that he was happy to provide the following details. He had met with the Deputy Chief Executive (S151) and Group Manager for Finance on 30 May and the Deputy Chief Executive (S151) on the following dates, 19 June, 19 July, 7 August, 4 September and was due to meet with him again the following week. He also communicated with the officer officially either by phone or email on a regular basis. He thanked the officers for their assistance as they had been happy to answer any of his questions. The S151 officer was present at every meeting he attended and therefore communication between them could take place at any time.
Councillor A Wilce addressing the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration stated that in January, the Cabinet approved the application for funding from Homes England via the Homes Infrastructure Fund, for the Cullompton Town Centre Relief Road and the Tiverton Eastern Urban Extension .In doing so, the Cabinet will have been aware that it was a condition of the HIF application that those monies should be recouped and recycled for future infrastructure projects in order to deliver more new homes within Mid Devon, in the future.
Can the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration confirm that the Council has robust plans in place to ensure that the HIF money will not be lost and that it will be recouped so as to be spent on future housing projects in Mid Devon - and does he consider that, in the interests of openness and transparency, Homes England should be made aware of any possible failure to comply with the funding conditions, should that be the case? Can he also provide me with an update on the current position?
The Cabinet Member responded by informing the meeting of the detail of the Housing Infrastructure Fund and the bids that had been put forward from the authority, that of £10m for the Relief Road in Cullompton (an additional £5m would be funded by the Council through S106 contributions for the Cullompton Relief Road) and £8.2m for the A361 junction. The Council was currently working with Homes England to finalise the contracts for both Housing Infrastructure Fund schemes and anticipated completion before the end of September 2019. The contracts addressed the issue of recovery of HIF funding to reinvest in Mid Devon and provided assurance on those funds being reinvested in Mid Devon to deliver further housing-enabling projects. Members would be fully informed following the conclusion of discussions.