Agenda item

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee considered the decision taken by Cabinet on 15^th August 2017 regarding the sale of land off Station Road in Foxton, and AGREED to allow the decision to be implemented without further delay.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer set out the reasons for the call-in of the decision taken by Cabinet on 15^th August 2017, regarding the sale of land off Station Road in Foxton.

The Cabinet had agreed on 15^th August 2017, to the sale of access land in Foxton and sale of garden land at number 31 Station Road, Foxton. The call-in focussed on the sale of the garden land at number 31. The Deputy Monitoring Officer explained that Article 13.02 of the Council’s Constitution stated that in taking decisions ‘the action to be taken shall be proportionate to the desired outcome’. His view was that there was enough to say that the constitution had been engaged and that a meeting of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee should consider the decision.. The committee was informed that it could also refer the matter to Council however officers felt and the committee agreed, that this would mean in practice, that the decision would then be referred back to the Cabinet for re-consideration.

The Chairman drew the committee’s attention to two typographical errors in the correspondence from Councillor Roberts, confirming that the date on page 27 was 3 July 2012 and not 2017 and on page 29, the Cabinet meeting referred to had taken place in 2017 and not 2015.

Councillor Deborah Roberts was invited to speak as the local member for Foxton and lead member of the call-in. She made the following points:

·         She set out the importance to the village of the area in question.

·         Highways had not raised any objections on grounds of safety regarding the single track entrance to the proposed development at the entrance of Station Road. Therefore it was felt by Councillor Roberts and Foxton Parish Council, that the sale of this extra land to widen this road, was not necessary to accommodate the proposed development. It was therefore felt that the decision taken by Cabinet to sell the extra land, was disproportionate.

·         Discussions between the Housing department and the applicant (Endurance Estates) negotiating the release and sale of the garden land in question, had happened without the Parish Council being made aware.

·         The village supported affordable housing and supported South Cambridgeshire District Council. Councillor Roberts did not agree that this decision was for the future benefit of future residents of the proposed new development.

·         The land in question had been maintained by the Parish Council for a long time. The Parish Council had proposed that the District Council consider selling the land to them however this proposal was never considered.

The Chairman of Foxton Parish Council was invited to speak and added the following:

·         The main concern for the parish council and its main reason for disagreeing with the decision taken by Cabinet on 15^th August 2017, was that the sale of this extra land would give the developer (Endurance Estates) of the proposed development of 22 houses, extra access to the site. It was felt that this would enable further land beyond that for the 22 houses developed, to be developed. In response to this, the committee was informed that for any further future development to take place, the applicant would have to submit a full planning application.

The Committee proceeded to ask Councillor Roberts, Housing officers and the Housing Portfolio Holder questions and to debate this issue.  The main points raised were:

·         The committee was informed that the sale of this extra land would widen the existing road, enabling it to be adopted by Highways. It was highlighted that this could improve the safety of the road. Some members of the committee pointed out that accommodating the adoption of roads was desirable. Some members’ experience suggested that residents preferred roads to be adopted as although private roads could be managed by private companies employed by residents, this placed potentially expensive responsibility on residents who would be responsible for the cost of any repairs to an unadopted private road.

·         The committee was informed that the tenant of the property to which the garden land in question belonged, was happy with the sale of the land. The committee was also informed that the tenant had a right to buy the property but had not yet taken that up.

·         Cllr Roberts informed the committee that her views had not been sought regarding this matter before the sale of land had been agreed by Cabinet, though she had received letters informing her of what was being done.

In response to the points raised during the discussions, the Housing Director informed the committee  of the following:

·         The option to look at the extra strip of garden land in question to widen access to the proposed development, had been raised by the developer (Endurance Estates) in 2015. The Parish Council were informed of this by the Housing department. There had been no discussions between the applicant and the Housing department regarding future development.

·         The garden land in question had been valued at £5000, which reflected that this was a small strip of land. The land had been valued by an independent valuer.

·         A 50% uplift had been applied to the sale of the access land in order to protect the Council’s asset in case any future development benefitted from this land. This was HRA land and therefore the funds raised from the sale of this were ring-fenced and could only be spent on the provision or maintenance of affordable housing.

·         Throughout the process leading to the Cabinet decision to sell the land, the Housing department had liaised with Councillor Roberts and Foxton Parish Council. Discussions had taken place with Councillor Roberts and the parish council before the original planning application for 22 houses had been submitted.

·         The Housing Director was satisfied that the parish council and Councillor Roberts had been kept informed and that their views had been sought.

·         He confirmed that if the tenant of the property decided to exercise their right to buy in future, that they could sell the strip of land in question.

·         The committee was informed that when first approached by Endurance Estates, the Housing department advised that they would not enter any negotiations with the tenant regarding the sale of garden land as they could be seen as acting in favour of the proposed planning application.

·         When asked why the transfer of the land to the parish council had not been considered, the committee was informed that it would not have been appropriate for the Housing Portfolio Holder to make any decisions regarding the land before a decision on the planning application had been taken.

·         The Housing Director advised the committee that it would seem perverse for another Council department to refuse approval for the sale of land which was of benefit to a planning application which had been approved by the same Council’s Planning Committee, as was the case here.

The Housing Portfolio Holder informed the committee that:

·         Before this decision had been taken, she and the Head of Housing Strategy had met with Foxton Parish Council having offered meeting dates for their convenience. They had spent at least an hour discussing the proposals with the parish council.

·         The Housing Portfolio Holder meeting originally scheduled to take place on 21 June 2017, was cancelled as there were no substantial items to warrant a public meeting taking place.

The Committee debated and discussed the issue further, raising the following points:

·         Some members felt that the sale of this extra land was not needed as the outline planning permission for the proposed development had been granted with the existing single track access. Therefore the sale of the land was not necessary to accommodate the viability of the proposed development.

·         Some members felt that the sale of the land made it possible to add speculative development sites to the village.

·         Some members felt that the sale of this land was not proportionate and that it was premature to sell it.

·         Some members spoke in favour of roads being adopted where possible and pointed out that the potential adoption of this section of road being made possible by the sale of this land, would potentially make possible the adoption of roads in the 22 house development.

Taking account of all the points raised, the Scrutiny and Overview Committee considered the decision taken by Cabinet on 15^th August 2017 regarding the sale of land off Station Road in Foxton. Six members voted in favour of Option A which was to allow the decision to be implemented without further delay, and two members voted in favour of Option B which was to refer the decision back to Cabinet. The Scrutiny and Overview Committee therefore AGREED to allow the decision taken by Cabinet on 15^th August 2017, to be implemented without further delay.