Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: Councillor Paul Kunes was appointed Vice Chairman for the Municipal Year.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Devereux, Manning and Mrs Nockolds.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED: The minutes from the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

Those declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There was none.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposes to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

There was none.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

There was none.

If any.

There was none.

The LDF Manager presented the update.  He reminded Councillors that they had been invited to a Stakeholders event in April where a short presentation had been given on the transport strategy.  The presentation and notes from the event had been circulated to the Regeneration and Development Panel.

The Panel was provided with information on previous studies which had been conducted, statistics relating to journey types in King’s Lynn and the Local Plan.  They were informed that patterns of travel would be investigated as part of the study as well as the frequency of bus services and congestion hotspots on the Highways network.  The LDF Manager also highlighted that the town centre would grow in the future and additional housing would be developed within the town centre and on the fringes.

The LDF Manager explained that work on the study had commenced in January 2018 and involved:

-        Data collection

-        Transport modelling

-        Identifying options and issues for testing

-        Preparation of a draft preferred strategy which would be available early 2019.

The Panel was informed that consultation would be carried out as required and all the information was available to the public so that they could have an input.  In terms of what role the Regeneration and Development Panel could play, they would have the opportunity at their next meeting to come up with ideas for potential model testing.  A workshop session would be carried out and officers from Norfolk County Council and possibly the consultants working on the study would be present to answer questions and queries.

The LDF Manager provided an overview of some of the issues raised at the recent Stakeholders event relating to cycling, buses and the congestion in the town centre.  He also explained that a Governance Group and an Officer Working Group had been established to oversee the study work.

The Portfolio Holder for Development, Councillor Blunt, informed the Panel that he was a Member of the Governance Group and was involved in the development of the strategy. 

The Chairman thanked the LDF Manager for the update and invited questions and comments from the Panel, as summarised below.

Councillor Howland referred to a recent notice in the press about Hardings Way Bus route.  It was clarified that the notice was to push back the bus gate north so that access to potential development sites was available.

Councillor Mrs Collingham raised concern about the reliability of buses, although she acknowledged that there was a transition of operators.  She commented that it was important to have a reliable timetable to promote the use of public transport.  Councillor Smith commented that some of the new operator’s buses were new, and therefore cleaner than before.  He felt that the service would be improved once the new operation had bedded in.

Councillor Smith also commented that, because of the historic nature of the town centre, a lot of the routes in and out of town were narrow or restrictive.  He hoped that work to relieve the choke points  ...  view the full minutes text for item RD8:

RESOLVED: 1. The current Informal Working Groups and Task Group established by the Panel would continue to operate.

2. The Membership of the Informal Working Groups was confirmed as follows:

Guildhall: Councillors Collingham, Gidney, Manning, Middleton and A Tyler.

River: Councillors Collingham, Hipperson, Howland, Kunes and Westrop

3. The Democratic Services Officer seek Membership from Group Leaders of the Custom and Self Build Policy Development Task Group for the 2018/2019 Municipal Year.

To consider passing the following resolution:

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act”.

RESOLVED: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

The Regeneration and Economic Development Manager provided the Panel with an update on the Heritage Action Zone.  A briefing note had also been prepared and circulated to the Panel.

The Chairman thanked the Regeneration and Economic Development Manager for his presentation and invited questions and comments from the Panel.  In response to questions, the Regeneration and Economic Development Manager outlined the work being carried out by Historic England, funding opportunities and the work that would be carried out regarding feasibility studies and possible future developments.

RESOLVED: The update was noted.

The Council’s Valuer presented the Panel with information about Commercial Rent Arrears.  The Panel was reminded that they now monitored the Performance Indicators which were relevant to the Regeneration and Development Portfolio.  Two targets relating to commercial rents were under target and the presentation would provide the Panel with information on the reasons why they were under target and mitigation work carried out by the Property Services Section.

The Chairman thanked the Valuer for her presentation and invited questions and comments from the Panel.  In response to questions, the Valuer and the Property Services Manager provided information on how they dealt with commercial rent arrears and the approaches they could take.

RESOLVED: The report was noted.

An update on the Southern Seafront Masterplan was suggested for inclusion on the Work Programme.  It was also suggested that the Panel meeting could be held in Hunstanton so that a tour of the site could be conducted before the meeting.

RESOLVED: The Panel’s Work Programme was noted.

To note that the next meeting of the Regeneration & Development Panel is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 26^th June 2018 at 6.00pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the Regeneration and Development Panel would be held on Tuesday 26^th June 2018 at 6.00pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.