Minutes:
(a) Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)
The Leader advised that it had now been agreed that Councillor J. Campion, Leader of Wyre Forest District Council would be the named substitute on this body and not Mr. G. N. Denaro. The Leader indicated that action would be taken in due course to remedy the appointment of non-councillors to other outside bodies.
(b) Marlbrook Tip
The Leader referred to the excess spoil tipped at the site contrary to planning permission conditions and that the Planning Committee should not have imposed conditions which could not be monitored/measured properly. His update included comments to the effect that:
· he had heard that residents had complained but he had not received any complaints;
· the Head of Planning and Regeneration had now put an investigation in place;
· complaints to the local MP should be routed to local politicians not officers;
· the situation could have been managed better and he would apologise to residents for mistakes made; and
· he would like the Overview and Scrutiny Board to undertake a proper scrutiny exercise into what had happened, why and what could be done to ensure that this did not happen again.
(c) Economic Development Theme Group
The Leader referred to the above Theme Group, set up as part of the Local Strategic Partnership, which included business representatives, a representative of a marketing agency, relevant officers and Members, including himself and Councillor R. J. Laight. The Group intended to take action as quickly as possible to attract new businesses into the District.
(d) Localism Bill
The Leader advised that he was now on the executive of the District Councils’ Network and they would fight to ensure the Localism Bill became localism in practice and not just in name.
(e) Overview and Scrutiny / Planning Committee
The Leader expressed objections to politics being brought into the Overview and Scrutiny Board and Planning Committee. This had to stop and politics/political debate was for the Council Chamber. He referred to a political speech made during the Planning Committee that week which appeared to suggest pre-determination. He was now investigating the matter with legal officers and the Section 151 Officer.
Members then raised questions/comments to which the Leader responded, as summarised below.
Councillor P. M. McDonald referred to the Marlbrook Brook Tip site, damage to the site and consequences for the future arising from such. He asked whether an Enforcement Officer had been called in. The Leader responded that if the Overview and Scrutiny Board investigated the matter, it could pick up issues/consequences for the future. If the Board decided not to investigate, he would set up a separate group to do so. He believed that the residents’ group had asked for the excess spoil to be re-spread over the site and not removed. With regard to enforcement, he believed that the reports received from the firm doing the statistical analysis of the spoil tipped were ‘wrong’ and that the situation may not be as bad as it looked on the surface but he did not know until the matter was examined properly. He reiterated that he had not received any direct complaints from residents and he would like to see any that had come in. As soon as the Head of Planning and Regeneration had found out about the excess tipping she had taken necessary actions to stop this.
Councillor P. M. McDonald asked whether the Leader had had discussions about an ex-Cabinet Member on the Planning Committee getting involved in decisions made during the time he was a Cabinet Member. The Leader responded that he would take care of this matter in the near future.
Councillor P. M. McDonald asked whether the Leader could confirm what he had said at the last Council meeting with regard to the Polymer Latex site and that there had been no discussions with the local councillor, Chief Executive or potential developers. The Leader responded that he believed the owners had spoken with the ward councillor but had not spoken to him. The Chief Executive advised that the ward councillor had asked for officers to facilitate discussions but none had taken place as yet.
Councillor R. J. Shannon commented that he had been informed by a senior source from within the Co-operative supermarket group that Sainsbury’s had pulled out of the deal with regard to the proposed development in Bromsgrove and asked the Leader whether this was true. The Leader responded by referring to the Member having gone to the local press without asking the question first and that Sainsbury’s had told the press that they were not pulling out of the deal and he could say no more than that.
Councillor J. A. Ruck referred to the Marlbrook Tip site as the local ward Member and advised that he had been dealing with this for over seven years. He provided a brief history of the site over the past eight years and commented that the Planning Officer had recently invited the owner to submit a retrospective planning application for the excess spoil tipped; that the site was now safe with no flooding; and that local residents had been in contact with ward councillors on a regular basis and there had been meetings with local residents over the past six months. He welcomed the suggested Overview and Scrutiny investigation but expressed concern that if the Council tried to take action against the owner of the site he might walk away and the Council would be left with a site to maintain at high cost.
The Leader responded by reiterating that there were no complaints on file other than those which had been referred on by the local MP and that a proper investigation would find out exactly what had happened and recommend courses of action.
Councillor C. J. Tidmarsh referred to the Polymer Latex site and stated that he had been in close contact as ward councillor. The factory had been mothballed for two years then sold to new owners who had concentrated on making the site safe and were now looking to sell it to a property developer. He had drawn this to the attention of the Leader and the Chief Executive.
Councillor P. M. McDonald asked whether the Leader was satisfied with the way the local ward councillor had got involved with the Polymer Latex site.
The Leader responded that he did not believe the local councillor had done anything wrong and that he had been approached by a business within his ward. The Leader added that a month ago he had said that nothing had happened and that was still the case. If the site owners wished to include the site within the Core Strategy they would need to submit comments accordingly on the draft Core Strategy and if they wished to apply for planning permission, this would need to be considered by the Planning Committee.
Councillor E. J. Murray commented that he had attended the Planning Committee that week and did not recall a political debate.
The Leader responded that it was not a political debate but a Member had read a pre-prepared political statement in which the Council was accused of being incompetent.
Councillor S. P. Shannon referred to the Leader’s earlier comments with regard to the Overview and Scrutiny Board and asked him to explain why the Board had a chairman and vice-chairman from the controlling group when this was not common practice across the country or best practice and should not happen.
The Leader replied that when the Overview and Scrutiny Board was previously chaired by the Leader of the Opposition it had been ‘politicised’ including minority reports. He did not want politics brought into Overview and Scrutiny and so the Constitution had been changed with regard to the chairmanship.
Councillor P. M. McDonald made a comment with regard to a former Member which the Chairman ruled as inappropriate and accordingly proceeded to the next item on the agenda.