Agenda

Date	Time	Name	Venue	Contact
Mon 22 Jun	10.30 am	Armed Forces Day Flag-Raising Ceremony	Council Offices	Kelly Quigley
	5 pm	Member Presentation: New Performance Management Portal	Council Chamber	Richard May
Tue 23 Jun
Wed 24 Jun
Thu 25 Jun	5.30 pm	Scrutiny and Overview Committee	Swansley Room	Patrick Adams
Fri 26 Jun	10 am	Licensing (2003 Act) Sub-Committee	Jeavons Room	Maggie Jennings
Mon 29 Jun	9.30 am	Corporate Governance Committee	Monkfield Room	Patrick Adams
	12 noon	Deadline for members of the public to register to speak at Planning Committee on 1 July
	2 pm	Member Training: Risk Management	Monkfield Room	Richard May
Tue 30 Jun	2 pm	Cancelled: Planning Enforcement Sub-Committee
Wed 1 Jul	2 pm	Planning Committee	Council Chamber	Ian Senior
Thu 2 Jul	10 am	Leader’s Portfolio Meeting	Mezzanine	Patrick Adams
	10 am	Cancelled: Climate Change Working Group
	10.30 am	Cancelled: Policy and Performance Portfolio Holder’s Meeting
	2 pm	Cabinet	Swansley Room	Maggie Jennings
Fri 3 Jul
Mon 6 Jul
Tue 7 Jul	10 am	Planning and New Communities Portfolio Holders’ Joint Meeting	Monkfield Room	Ian Senior
	10 am	Finance and Staffing Portfolio Holder’s Meeting	Jeavons Room	Guy Moody
	5.30 pm	Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth Workshop	Guildhall	Melanie Jones
Wed 8 Jul	10 am	Joint Development Control Committee: Cambridge Fringes (Cambridge City Council website)	Guildhall	John Blunt
	5 pm	South Cambs ‘In Your Patch’	Shire Hall	Michelle Rowe
Thu 9 Jul	10 am	Member Training: SCDC Revenues Service	Swansley Room	Richard May
	6 pm	Member Training: SCDC Revenues Service	Swansley Room	Richard May
Fri 10 Jul	10 am	Member Training: Project ARGUS Counter-Terrorism Security Exercise	Council Chamber	Democratic Services

This item is intended to update Members on appeals against planning decisions and statistics about appeals.  Information is provided on appeals lodged, proposed hearing and inquiry dates, appeal decisions and when appropriate, details of recent cases in interest, and forms part of the agenda for the Planning Committee on 1 July 2009. 

The full Statement is a detailed document to meet the statutory requirement to comply with technical accounting standards. It is included on the agenda for robust review by Members prior to approval by the Corporate Governance Committee at its meeting next Monday 29 June 2009 and is available on modern.gov.

 

The essential features are:

 

·                      Balances, i.e. how much money have we got to spend in the future

 

These have turned out to be slightly higher than we estimated back in February 2009 when we reported on the revised estimates

 

On the General Fund, which shows the cost of services for the whole community, we now have £8.1 million as at 31st March 2009 compared to a revised estimate of £7.9 million.

 

On the Housing Revenue Account, which shows the cost of council housing, we now have £3.1 million as at 31st March 2009 compared to a revised estimate of £3.0 million.

 

On Capital, which includes expenditure which will be of benefit for many future years, we are also better off by £0.3 million, being the year end balance of capital receipts from the sale of assets.

 

These figures will be built in to future projections. The underspendings are much lower than in previous years and the Council has met its target of being within 3% of budget on each of the above accounts.

 

·                      Financial stewardship

 

This is demonstrated by:

 

(a)               The Council’s Chief Executive (as the statutory officer responsible for the proper administration of the Council’s financial affairs), Greg Harlock, certifying that the accounts present fairly the financial position of the Council (page 9 of the Statement). This is equivalent to the true and fair view in company accounts and is not a guarantee that everything is accurate to the nearest penny;

 

(b)               An annual governance statement for ensuring sound management and systems which is signed by the Leader, Ray Manning, and the Chief Executive but is the responsibility of Members and senior officers generally. This covers corporate governance, internal control, risk management , etc. (pages 13 to 26);

 

and will hopefully be demonstrated by our external auditors, the Audit Commission, giving an unqualified audit opinion on the Statement of Accounts by 30th September. The Auditor’s report to the Corporate Governance Committee in September will also demonstrate whether the Council has complied with increasingly complex accounting issues, many of which have no effect on the financial position of the Council.

 

·                      The Statement also includes an explanatory foreword which attempts to give a basic introduction to the Council’s finances (pages 2 to 8) 

The applications considered, with their resolutions are as follows:

 

1.                  S/0596/09/F – Proposed new dwelling, 45 Impington Lane, Impington

Comments: note parish council and neighbour objections. Given Highway comments cannot hold weight with access concerns. Nature of drainage concerns not material planning considerations – would be resolved by building regulations consent.

 

Decision: Approve as per officer recommendation

 

Attendance: Cllr Corney, Cllr Bird, M Hare, M Osbourn

 

2.                  S/0634/09/F – Insertion of rooflight in south western roof slope, 91A Hinton Way, Great Shelford

Comments: considered proximity of window to neighbour, boundary treatment and relationship between dwellings.

 

Decision: Approve as per officer recommendation

 

Attendance: Cllr Corney, Cllr Bird, M Hare, M Osbourn

 

3.                  S/0586/09/F – Erection of dwelling following demolition of existing, 101 West Drive, Highfields Caldecote, Caldecote

Comments: note parish council and neighbour objections. Given Highway comments cannot hold weight with access concerns. Boundary treatment conditions can resolve concerns regarding existing fencing. Note proximity of windows to neighbour – can be resolved by conditions.

 

Decision: Approve, with conditions regarding obscure windows (with top or bottom hung casements), boundary treatment, landscaping, visibility splays, and use of materials.

 

Attendance: Cllr Corney, A Phillips, M Osbourn

 

4.                  S/0613/09/F, Erection of Ecological Dwelling, Carport and Store with New Access at Land North of 36 High Street, Barrington

Comments: note applicant’s representations and councillor comments in respect of personal circumstances, however not considered material to planning application. Dwelling not presently at threat and incapable of habitation without development. Considered impact of development upon setting of Listed Building and PVAA harmful, not withstanding quality of proposed dwelling. Note Parish recommend refusal also.

 

Decision: Refuse as per officer recommendation

 

Attendance: Cllr Corney, Cllr Bird, M Osbourn

Date:	8 July 2009 (Evening) at Putteridge Conference Centre, Luton   or
	10 July 2009 at Newmarket Racecourse

Two free events to get to the bottom of what CAA will really mean for Councillors.

 

Information at: www.improvementeast.gov.uk/events/

In response to feedback from the 2008 training and development survey, we will be staging 2-hour morning and early evening sessions introducing the work of the Council’s Revenues Service on Thursday 9 July 2009 at the Council Offices. Both sessions will take place in the Swansley Room, ground floor.

 

The morning session will take place between 10am-12 noon, with refreshments from 9.45am, and the evening session between 6-8pm, with refreshments from 5.45pm.

 

If you have not already done so, please could you let me know which session you wish to attend as soon as possible, so that I can make the necessary logistical arrangements? 

 

The session will cover the following topics, which have been agreed in consultation with Members who identified revenues as a high-priority training and development need:

·                      Responsibilities of the Council and those of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP);

·                      Brief introduction to each service area: Council Tax, housing rents and benefits, business rates, benefit fraud prevention and investigation;

·                      Scope and size of the service  - financially, and in terms of annual enquiries;

·                      Specific areas for clarification, e.g., what is the Council Tax base and how does it relate to annual parish precepts?

·                      Dealing with common Member / resident enquiries: the recovery process, benefit availability and eligibility.

 

Lee Phanco, the Council's Head of Revenues, will lead the session, supported by officers from his service, using presentation slides and relevant case studies and examples of the work of the service, e.g., anonymised benefit fraud investigations and prosecutions, including some interesting anecdotes about the detective work of our investigators.

 

We hope that the sessions will be interesting, eye-opening and useful to you when dealing with residents' enquiries in the future.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact Richard May, Democratic Services Manager, 01954 713016, richard.may@scambs.gov.uk if you require further information. 

Issues:	Planning for growth in Cambridgeshire can be driven by the urgency of delivering numbers of units, e.g. houses, as quickly as possible through a target and process focussed system.  The risk is that the quality of development is ignored, or at least assumes a lower priority.  The task for everyone is to achieve both quality and delivery and the Quality Charter is a means towards this end.   It is vital therefore that all members understand how the Charter can assist in ensuring that steps are taken to achieve to first class, timely development.
Purpose:	To: ·                      Raise awareness of the Quality Charter ·                      Clarify its status and purpose ·                      Explain its content ·                      Demonstrate how it can be used throughout the Local Authority
Target audience:	Local Authority members, in two groups: ·                      City, County and South Cambs ·                      East Cambs, Fenland and Huntingdonshire
Format:	Short, two hour, workshop combining presentations and discussion looking at Charter background, content and application.  It will be critical to draw out members’ needs and respond to as many as possible in the time available.
Content:	Important themes are, ‘What does the Charter add and how should it be used?’  Key points to cover are: ·                      Charter origins, purpose and status ·                      Charter content – the 4Cs + collaboration ·                      Use of the Charter, e.g. in: ·                      Local Development Frameworks ·                      Development Control ·                      Community Strategies / LSPs ·                      How members should be using it to ensure quality and stop poor development ·                      Learning from experience
Finance:	Joint funding and support between Cambridgeshire Horizons and the Local Authorities
Administration:	By Cambridgeshire Horizons and Local Authority training coordinators.

           

Owning the Quality Charter

Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire District and Cambridgeshire County

 

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Venue: Committee Room 1, The Guildhall

 

AGENDA

5.30	Registration / Refreshments (Note: no refreshment break, but drinks available throughout the session)
5.45	Welcome & Introduction – Alex Plant, Chief Executive, Cambridgeshire Horizons Workshop purpose and content
5.50	Background to the Charter – Brian Human Origin, Purpose, Status of Charter
6.10	The Charter Content  – Glen Richardson ·                      Community ·                      Connectivity ·                      Climate ·                      Character
6.40	Adding Value from The Charter – Brian Human ·                      What the Charter adds ·                      How to use it to add value
7.05	Case Studies – Glen Richardson and Brian Human ·                      Looking back: Orchard Park ·                      Looking ahead: NIAB Development
7.40	Questions and discussion
7.55	Summary & Conclusions - Brian Human
8.00	Close

An annual risk management briefing has been arranged to take place on Monday 29 June 2009 at 2.00pm. It will last no longer than 2 hours. This follows the next meeting of the Corporate Governance Committee which takes place that morning. Lunch will be provided for Members attending both sessions.

 

Details of the course content will follow shortly, following discussions with the trainer; however, it will provide an overview of local authority risk management and focus on your roles in overseeing the Council's strategic approach to risk management and ownership of operational risk registers as Members of the Council bodies responsible for these areas.

 

Note to Members of the Corporate Governance Committee - Given the Committee meeting in the morning, I will assume you will be staying for the training session in the afternoon unless you advise differently.

 

Note to Cabinet Members - Please let me know if you will be attending this briefing so that I can confirm logistical arrangements.

 

Richard May

Democratic Services Manager

(01954) 713016

richard.may@scambs.gov.uk

Attached is the June 2009 Cambridgeshire Guided Busway newsletter (PDF, 2 MB). 

The Rural Services Network is a group of over 250 service providers and local authorities working to establish best practice across the spectrum of rural service provision. The network has representation across the complete range of rural services.  For general comments or enquiries, email: editor@ruralcity.co.uk 

·                      Government urged to bridge digital divide

·                      Village life ‘in terminal decline’

To view the list of planning applications submitted in the past seven days, please visit the Council’s on-line Planning Application Search.  Once the page has loaded, select the relevant parish from the drop-down list, set the date period to ‘7 days’ and click the Search button or click the Advanced button, select a ward from the drop-down list, then set the date period to ‘7 days’ and click the Search button.

 

The system will provide a range of information on current and decided applications since 1948, including a brief description of the development, reference number, decision and the date of decision.  More recent applications show the name and telephone number of the council officer who is dealing with the application.

 

Search results are presented in a collection of pages, the number of which depends on the number of results your search produces.  Each page displays 30 results and there are navigation tools to allow you to browse these results.

In accordance with the Access to Information Procedure Rules in Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution, any executive decision shall be published normally within five days of being made.  That record will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision will come into force, and may then be implemented, on the expiry of 5 working days after the publication of the decision, unless called in for review by the Chairman of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee or by any five other councillors.

 

A list of decisions currently within the call-in period is available on the Council’s website.

 

Unless otherwise specified, the Democratic Services Manager must be notified of any call in by Wednesday 1 July 2009 at 5 pm. All decisions not called in by this date may be implemented on Thursday 2 July 2009.

 

Any member considering calling in a decision is requested to contact the Democratic Services Section to determine whether any relevant amendments have been incorporated.

 

The call in procedure is set out in full in Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution, ‘Scrutiny and Overview Committee Procedure Rules’. 

The Housing Portfolio Holder AGREED that the leases of the car park sites at Sawston, Melbourn, Histon, Linton and Great Shelford be offered to Parish Councils or commercial organisations subject to the following terms:

 

1.                  Long lease (99 years) at nominal rent.

 

2.                  Site to be retained for parking use, free of charge.  Should charges be introduced the lease to be rendered void.

 

3.                  Lessee to be liable for payment of National Non-Domestic Rates.

 

4.                  Lessee to be responsible for maintenance of site (in case of Melbourn only, excluding footpath and adjacent grassed area).

 

5.                  Remedial work to be carried out by SCDC prior to transfer: white lining and (in case of Histon only) repair of height barrier.

 

6.                  In case of Melbourn only, PC to have right to develop site for the benefit of the community (subject to planning permission) during life of lease, providing freehold is purchased, subject to valuation.

 

The Housing Portfolio Holder further AGREED that if no progress is made towards granting leases for any of the sites within the next 12 weeks, to proceed to dispose of the sites on the open market.

1.                  The New Communities Portfolio Holder agreed for public consultation

(i)                   Issues and Options 2 - Site Options and Policies (Appendix 1 to the report)

(ii)                 Technical Annex (Appendix 2)

(iii)                Sustainability Appraisal (Appendix 3)

(iv)                Further Addendum to Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report (Appendix 4) and

(v)                  Equalities Impact Assessment (Appendix 5).

 

2.                  The New Communities Portfolio Holder delegated any further technical amendments to the Corporate Manager (Planning and Sustainable Communities). 

 

Decision taken and published on 19 June 2009; call-in expires at 5 pm on Monday 29 June 2009.  Decision can be implemented from 30 June 2009 if not called-in.

Agendas

·                      Executive Management Team 24 June 2009 (intranet only)

·                      Scrutiny and Overview Committee 25 June 2009

·                      Licensing (2003 Act) Sub-Committee 26 June 2009

·                      Corporate Governance Committee 29 June 2009

·                      Planning Committee 1 July 2009

·                      Leader’s Portfolio Holder Meeting 2 July 2009

·                      Cabinet 2 July 2009

 

Reports

·                      Review of 2008/09 Budget Outturn – late report received after publication of Scrutiny and Overview Committee 25 June 2009 agenda

·                      Documents tabled at meeting of Standards Committee 17 June 2009

·                     Consultation Responses Received After Agenda Publication

·                     Panel Membership Preferences Received After Agenda Publication

·                     Standards Committee Budget 2008-09

 

Decisions

·                      Council: Extraordinary General Meeting 18 June 2009

·                      Housing Portfolio Holder’s Meeting 18 June 2009:

·                     Disposal of SCDC Public Car Parks at Histon, Great Shelford, Linton, Melbourn and Sawston

·                      Planning and New Communities Joint Portfolio Holders' Meeting 19 June 2009:

·                     Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document: Issues and Options 2 Consultation Document

 

Minutes

·                      Council 21 May 2009

·                      Senior Management Team 3 and 16 June 2009 (intranet only)

·                      Finance and Staffing Portfolio Holder’s Meeting 9 June 2009

·                      Planning Committee 10 June 2009

·                      Standards Committee 17 June 2009

·                      Standards Committee Hearings Panel 17 June 2009

·                      Standards Committee Local Assessment Panel 17 June 2009 (panel members only)

·                      Standards Committee Review Panel 17 June 2009 (panel members only)

 

Issues

·                      Corporate Governance Self-Evaluation

·                      Crime and Disorder Reduction Funding Plan

·                      Exception Sites for Affordable Homes: Role of the Parish Council

·                      External Audit Report

·                      Internal Audit Quarterly Report

·                      Grants to Voluntary Organisations From 2010-11

·                      Local Government Ombudsman Annual Review

·                      Pre-Application Charging

·                      Risk Maturity Action Plan

·                      South Cambridgeshire Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) Self-Evaluation

·                      Strategic Risk Register

 

Library Items:

·                      SCDC Constitution (Complete Document)

·                     Updated: Part 7 - Management Structure and contact details for members of the Cabinet

 

Meetings

·                      CANCELLED due to lack of formal business:

·                     Planning Enforcement Sub-Committee 30 June 2009

·                     Policy and Performance Portfolio Holder’s meeting 2 July 2009

·                     Climate Change Working Group 11 July 2009

·                      NEW: Environmental Services Portfolio Holder’s meetings 2009-10:

·                     28 July 2009 at 2 pm

·                     9 November 2009 at 2 pm

·                     14 December 2009 at 2 pm

·                     25 January 2010 at 10 am

·                     16 March 2010 at 2 pm

·                     18 May 2010 at 2 pm

·                      NEW: Planning and New Communities Portfolio Holders’ joint meetings 2009-10:

·                     7 July 2009 at 10 am

·                     1 September 2009 at 10 am

·                     5 November 2009 at 10 am

·                     26 January 2010 at 10 am

·                     2 March 2010 at 10 am

·                     11 May 2010 at 10 am

·                      NEW: Policy and Performance Portfolio Holder’s meetings 2009-10:

·                     2 July 2009 at 10.30 am

·                     10 September 2009 at 11 am

·                     12 November 2009 at 11 am

·                     14 January 2010 at 11 am

·                     11 March 2010 at 11 am

·                     13 May 2010 at 11 am

·                      PROVISIONAL: Sustainability, Procurement and Efficiency Portfolio Holder’s meetings 2009-10:

·                     16 July 2009 at 2 pm

·                     24 September 2009 at 10 am or 8 October 2009 at 10 am

·                     26 November 2009 at 3 pm or 10 December 2009 at 10 am

·                     22 January 2010 at 2 pm (consideration of 2010-11 budget)

·                     11 February 2010 at 10 am or 25 February 2010 at 10 am

·                     8 April 2010 at 10 am or 22 April 2010 at 10 am

Subject:	Date:	Trainer:	For:	Contact:
Risk Management	29 June 2009	Internal	Elected Members, particularly members of the Corporate Governance Committee and Cabinet	Richard May
Cambridgeshire Quality Charter for Growth	7 July 2009	External	Elected Members	Melanie Jones
Introduction to the Revenues Service	9 July 2009	Internal	Elected Members	Richard May
Project ARGUS: National Counter-Terrorism Security Office Exercise	10 July 2009	External	Elected Members	Democratic Services

Leaver

Leanne Bates, Administration, New Communities, left on 20 May 2009.