Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That Councillor Bubb be appointed Vice Chair for the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bower, Collop, Devereux, Parish and Wilkinson.

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 Chair.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an 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 were no declarations of interest.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chair proposed 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 Chair of their intention to do so and what items they wish to be heard before a decision on that item is taken.  

Councillors Ryves, Devereux and Parish.

If any.

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The Chair informed the Panel that he had received correspondence from Councillor Devereux as below:

Colleagues, I note that at the 3rd January E&C, remarks are recorded about my involvement with the Environment Agency and seeking clarification of my current commitments.

Following my appointment to Cabinet in 2017 with the Environment Portfolio and my previous involvement as a Parish Councillor on the Wash East Coast Management Strategy (WECMS), I applied for the Nationally advertised post of Coastal Appointee to the Anglian (Central, now Great Ouse)Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.  Following competitive Interview, I was appointed in 2018.  The post is non remunerated but attracts EA approved out of pocket expenses for travel to meetings and is subject to governance arrangements similar to those applying in Local Government service.  

I regret that I did not formally declare that I had been re-appointed to this post for another four years in August 2022.

The Coastal Appointee post involves me in a range of activities and meetings associated with the RFCC in furtherance of its objectives and purposes as can be seen on the Government Website and in the minutes and proceedings.  Some of those activities overlap with the interests of BCKLWN.  Coastal Responsibilities are defined through the national Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy and implemented through Shoreline Management Plans with SMP4 covering The Wash.  The BCKLWN interest includes "WECMS" and 'The Hunstanton Coastal Management Plan' on which I worked as The BCKLWN Environment portfolio holder, with our Officer Team, including Dave Robson, Peter Jermany and Jade Kite, as well as with Cllr Long in both his BCKLWN Leadership (and Lead Local Flood Authority) and his NCC Risk Management Authority roles; and who is also a Member of the A(GO)RFCC.  

These management arrangements have been in place for some years and implementation is proceeding well.  

Arrangements for the Northern and Western coasts of the Wash, under control of The Anglian (Northern)Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (which covers Lincolnshire and parts of Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, including the Nene, Welland, Withey and Wainfleet river catchments) are not as well developed as highlighted by the National Review conducted by the Environment Agency at a joint meeting in our Council Chamber in King's Lynn in late 2019.  Together with BCKLWN Officers we established the need for a harmonised approach across the whole SMP4 area of The Wash. Cabinet and Council were advised at the time.

Progress towards this goal culminated last year in my Environment Agency Appointment as Co-Chair of the Wash Elected Members Governance Forum (For SMP4), together with the Chair of the A(N)RFCC, Eddie Poll.  This was reported to the A(GO)RFCC meeting in October 2022.  This role also has no pecuniary interests for me to declare.

At the October A(GO)RFCC I also reported that I had been made aware of Centre Port Tidal Power Barrage project as a potential project within its area of interest. As Environment Agency Coastal Appointee,  ...  view the full minutes text for item EC58:

To consider the report and make any appropriate recommendations to Cabinet.

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Officers presented the report which provided information on the grant funding offered to the Borough Council in December 2022 through the Local Authority Housing Fund programme which had been established by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to support Local Authorities to acquire homes to accommodate households with housing needs who have arrived in the UK via Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement and relocation schemes.

The Chair thanked the officer for their report and invited questions and comments from the Panel, as summarised below.

Councillor de Whalley welcomed the scheme and commented that he had investigated community sponsorship schemes which identified vulnerable people for resettlement and matched them with sponsors.  He commented that those entering the scheme needed protecting and he referred to existing charities that could also provide support.  He commented that the houses should not go into the wider stock and instead the Council should set up, or support an existing charity to act as a community sponsor so that the support was ongoing and could deal with any future emergencies.

The Housing Strategy Manager explained that the grant funding offered by Government for this scheme was for Capital purposes and revenue would be required for ongoing support elements.  She highlighted the criteria of the funding in that it could only be used for those who had already arrived through schemes as set out in the report.  The scheme granted flexibility so that the provision could be used in the wider housing stock if required.

Councillor de Whalley commented that he would like plans for the future to be looked at so that the Council was prepared to ensure that refugees had safety and security.

Councillor Hudson referred to the match funding element of the scheme and that any overspend would be the Councils responsibility  She felt that the grant funding awarded would not cover the costs of acquiring the properties.  She referred to the existing housing stock available via Housing Associations and that some were in desperate need of refurbishment and felt that this funding should be used to make improvements to the existing housing stock.

The Housing Strategy Manager explained that the grant funding could not be used for refurbishment and explained that West Norfolk Housing Company would take on the delivery of the units through this scheme and the budget for this had been accounted for in the Company’s Business Plan.  Modelling would be carried out to identify the mix of housing to be delivered through the scheme and it was likely that houses that were already under construction would be used for the scheme so that the tight timescales could be achieved.

Councillor Hudson commented that there were so many people on the housing register that could be frustrated by this scheme and felt that funding should be directed towards this instead.

Councillor Moriarty asked for clarification on the recommendation within the report relating to delegated authority for the final  ...  view the full minutes text for item EC59:

Councillor de Whalley reminded the Panel that friends of Horsey Seals were keen to come back to the Panel to provide an update and look at next steps.  The Chair explained that he had asked the Democratic Services Officer to make contact with them and an update would be provided in due course.

Councillor Bullen asked for an update on the recommendations from the Urban Wildlife Informal Working Group and it was explained that these had recently been presented to the Cabinet who had directed the recommendations to the Biodiversity Task Group for consideration.

RESOLVED: The Panel’s Work Programme was noted.

To note that the next meeting of the Environment and Community Panel is scheduled to take place on 21^st February 2023 at 4.30pm in the Town Hall, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the Environment and Community Panel was scheduled to take place on 21^st February 2023 at 4.30pm in the Town Hall.