Agenda and minutes

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RESOLVED:   Councillor S Dark be appointed Chair for the meeting.

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RESOLVED:   Councillor R Blunt be appointed Vice-Chair for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor A Ryves, A Baker, M Drewery and D Hall.

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The minutes of the meeting held on 29 June 2022 were agreed as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

Councillor Kemp stated that future function of the Carnegie building should be considered as part of the Member Major Projects Board and the Towns Fund Hub project as it was material to the town, this was refused by the Chair but Councillor Kemp added that she would like it recorded in the minutes as the town had a duty to its heritage buildings and to its assets.

There were no declarations of interest.

Councillor M de Whalley was present under Standing Order 34.

There was no urgent business.

There was no Chair’s correspondence.

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The Assistant Director, Property and Projects explained that this was an evolving document to help the MMPB to have oversight progress on all major projects and advised that cash flow would be included and brought to a future meeting.

The Corporate Projects Programme Manager presented the report and reminded the Board at that last meeting there had been a more cut down version of all projects listed, together with the RAG rating definitions.    At the last meeting there had been discussion and debate on the financial information required and this had now been added.  However, it was noted that due annual leave there had only been one day crossover between the relevant officers, and that the report had been developed, but would require further tweaks going forward. In summary, it was explained that the left hand side of the report remained the same with the RAG ratings being updated as at the end of June 2022, but that the columns to right contained new information relating to the different financial elements and an additional commentary column had been inserted.

In conclusion, the Assistant Director, Property and Projects added that this was a tool for MMPB and that officers were happy to amend and adjust if it was felt it would help the Board to do their job better and invited comments/suggestions to improve the format going forward in monitoring major projects.

The Chair commented that this was work in progress and was a step in the right direction and reminded Councillors why the MMPB had been set up.  The Chair invited comments and questions from the Board and explained that the Board could provide input by emailing the relevant officers.

Councillor Morley made the following comments and stated that he recognised this was work in progress and that significant improvements had been made to the data presented:

·         Financial information – Councillor Morley did not think that how the information was presented was useful  and could offer suggestions to make it more useful, in particular, a link for consistency to the capital expenditure report.

·         Consistency and timing - the report presented to MMPB should be as updated as possible close to the meeting date and that it should have a stop press associated with it.

·         RAG assessment – red, amber, green.  In his view Councillor Morley explained that he used it as a rapid assessment guide and would select a red box and ask for the reasons why this was red.  Councillor Morley added that there was no confidence that green was green as currently presented. Comments should be consistent with the RAG ratings given.

·         Exempt Issues – find a way of presenting the commercially sensitive information to the MMPB.

In summary, Councillor Morley added that he could discuss the above issues raised separately with relevant officers.

In response, the Corporate Projects Programme Manager explained that the report was put together as at the end of June which was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

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N Patton, Housing Strategy Manager and member of the West Winch project team introduced colleagues from NCC, David Allfrey, Assistant Director - Infrastructure Delivery and Jon Barnard - WWHAR Project Manager.

The Board received a presentation (copy attached to the Agenda).

The Chair thanked officers for the presentation and the ongoing work involved with the project.  For the benefit of the public viewing the meeting on You Tube, the Chair provided an overview of why the Borough Council together with other local authorities were required to deliver a certain amount of houses specified by Government on annual basis to meet the housing demand within the Borough.  The Chair highlighted that if the Council did not meet the target set out by Government, a penalty would be incurred and outlined the importance and drivers of the 4,000 homes proposed for West Winch.

The Chair invited questions and comments from the Board.

Councillor Kemp commented that she had expected to see the master plan for the 4,000 new houses but all she could see was a map coloured showing fields divided up for housing and that the infrastructure required for a community had not been identified on the plans.  Councillor Kemp stated that in her view, therefore, the master plan was in its early stages and not ready for consultation.  Councillor Kemp added that area did not bear CIL money for infrastructure which was an issue for walking and cycling links into the town.  Councillor Kemp commented that the flood issues in West Winch had not been addressed by either the Borough Council, Norfolk County Council or developers.

Under Standing Order 34, Councillor de Whalley addressed the Board and echoed the concerns raised by Councillor Kemp.  Councillor de Whalley expressed concern regarding contingency plans with the rate of inflation rising, likely changes to Building Regulations and Planning Requirements as the Council moved towards net zero economy and would like assurances that there was contingency and adaptability towards a net zero economy.  Councillor de Whalley commented on the need for improvements to both the rail network and cycling routes.

Councillor Morley commented that Councillor Kemp had made significant comments which needed to be addressed.

In response to Councillor Morley on the trigger point for the building of 800 homes in advance of the planning application being submitted in advance of the planning application for the access road, the Housing Strategy Manager clarified that the Hopkins Homes application to be determined later in 2022 was for 1,100 but within the existing capacity of the A10 only 300 homes could be delivered prior to the housing access road being in place and explained that this did not stop developers submitting planning applications and that the master plan, the Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP)  and comments from the Highway Authority would be taken into considering when application were determined.  The Housing Strategy Manager NP outlined preferred option for the delivery of the housing access road with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

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In response to Councillor Morley on the announcement from Governance confirming the reprioritisation of the Towns Fund projects, the Chief Executive explained that this was imminent.

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The Chair invited the Board to contact himself or the Democratic Services Officer suggesting future agenda items.

Following comments on the framework master plan and housing access road consultation exercises, Councillor Blunt explained that all comments received would be reviewed by the Stakeholder Group and the West Winch Project Team and would be fed through the Local Plan Task Group and relevant Borough Council Committees.

Councillor de Whalley commented that with the uncertainty of the heritage lottery bid – Stage 1 it would be useful to receive an update at the 29 September MMPB.

De Whalley

The following items were identified for the next meeting on 28 September 2022:

·         RAG – explanation (and to include blue and white scoring)

·         Guildhall and Creative Hub – An update be given to the meeting is there is anything significant to report.

·         Standing Item on all future Agendas – Exempt Session – updates on commercially sensitive projects.

The next meeting will be held on 28 September 2022 at 10.00 am in Town Hall, King’s Lynn.