To confirm the minutes of the meeting held 2 August 2007.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 2 August 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman, following the addition of Mrs K Millbank to the list of those present.

To receive apologies for absence. 

Apologies for absence were received from Mr R Childerhouse, Lady Fisher, Mr P Hewett, Mr C Jordan, Mrs S Matthews, Mr M Spencer, Mrs P Spencer, Mr N Wilkin and Mr T Holden, Chief Executive.

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.

The Members’ Code of Conduct requires that declarations include the nature of the interest and whether it is personal or prejudicial.

The following declarations were made:

Mr R Kybird, Mrs P Quadling, Mr D Mortimer, Mrs M Chapman-Allen and Mr S Chapman-Allen declared personal interests in Minute No. 35/07 of the Standards Committee meeting held on 11 September 2007.

Mr P Cowen declared a personal interest in Minute Nos. 127/07 and 141/07 of the Development Control Committee meeting held on 3 September 2007 and Council Agenda item 6, Thetford – Programme of Delivery by virtue of his architectural profession.

Mr Bambridge declared a personal interest in Minute Nos. 127/07 and 147/07 of the meetings held on 13 August and 3 September 2007.

Mrs C Bowes and Mr M Kiddle-Morris declared a personal interest in Minute No. 132/07(b) of the Development Control Committee meeting held on 13 August 2007.

Mrs C Bowes declared a personal interest in Minute No. 132/07 (i) of the Development Control Committee meeting held on 13 August 2007.

Mr S Askew declared a personal interest in Minute No. 141/07 of the Development Control Committee meeting held on 3 September 2007 by virtue of him being a landowner.  Mr Askew also declared interest in Minute No. 143/07 (a) of the same meeting as this related to his own application.

Mr Rogers declared personal interests as recorded under Minute No. 41/07 of the meeting of the Policy Development and Review Panel 1 meeting held on 24 July 2007.

The Chairman informed the Council that the Monitoring Officer was preparing to send a letter to all Members to clarify the requirements for declaring interests.

(including the engagements of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman)

The following announcements were made:

The Chairman congratulated the Council’s Housing Team which had been named as Regional Champion for homelessness by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).  The team had been working very hard and would now be working with other local authorities to provide support and share good practice. Members extended their praise to the Housing Team.

The Executive Member for Housing was very proud that Breckland Council had been chosen out of all the councils in the area. 

The Chairman informed Members that the Police Authority had set its precept meeting date for 19^th February and confirmed that the Breckland meeting for the setting of the Council tax would be held on 21^st February 2008.

The Chairman of Development Control reminded Members of the bus tour that would be taking place on 1^st October 2007.  All Members were invited to attend.

Members were encouraged to attend the Risk Management Training session that would be held following the Full Council meeting.

A list of engagements attended by the Chairman was tabled, for the period 2 August to 19 September 2007, which included:

Unconfirmed Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 4 September 2007.

Members were informed that the reason for the Leader’s absence from this meeting was due to his attendance at an LGA Commission meeting in Dorset.

i)              Release of Funds for an Extension to a Unit in Attleborough (Minute No. 107/07)

RESOLVED that the funding be released as indicated in the report plus VAT to extend an existing unit in Attleborough as an investment opportunity for the Council and to enable an existing company to expand and remain within the Breckland District.

ii)      Star Chamber Report: June 2007 (Minute No. 108/07)

A Member felt that further information should have been provided within Minute No.107/07(1) with regard to the methodology behind the resolution.  He asked how the Council would have supported these posts if there had not been any interest generated from the Dereham High Street Capital Receipts.  In response, the Leader advised that the Council had only used the interest to fund these identified priorities, if that money had not been available the Council would have had to gone through the normal channels of the budget process.

iii)      Adoption

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 4 September 2007 be adopted.

Unconfirmed Minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 9 August 2007.

i)       Panel 1 – Unconfirmed Minutes of the meeting held on 24 July 2007 – Breckland Local Development Framework (LDF) Progress Report and Update on Recent Best Practice and Advice (Minute No. 85/07 (b)(a)

A Member asked why the Council felt the need to continue to build so many houses in low density areas.  The Member raised this question as he had constantly been asked the very same question by his constituents.  He then put forward his ideas for appropriate types of housing in particular locations.  The Executive Member for Housing pointed out that the Council had requested views from the public and the Town and Parish Councils all the way through the LDF process

ii)             Adoption

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission meeting held on 9 August 2007 be adopted.

Confirmed Minutes of the Development Control Committee meeting held on 13 August 2007.

i)       Delegations to Officers (Minute No. 130/07)

RESOLVED that the current Officer Delegation Agreement from the Development Control Committee be approved, in accordance with option i) of the report, subject to the addition of a specific delegated power for the Development Services manager to make decisions as necessary for the processing of applications, including any decision required under the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations.

ii)             Adoption

RESOLVED that the confirmed Minutes of the Development Control Committee meeting held on 13 August 2007 be adopted.

Unconfirmed Minutes of the Development Control Committee meeting held on 3 September 2007.

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Development Control Committee meeting held on 3 September 2007 be adopted.

Unconfirmed Minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on 8 August 2007.

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on 8 August 2007 be adopted.

Unconfirmed Minutes of the Standards Committee meeting held on 11 September 2007.

RESOLVED that the unconfirmed Minutes of the Standards Committee meeting held on 11 September 2007 be adopted.

Unconfirmed Minutes of the Appeals Committee meeting held on 12 September 2007.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Appeals Committee meeting held on 12 September 2007 be adopted.

Report of the Operations Manager (Environment)

The Environmental Planning Manager reported that in April of this year all 29 of the National Growth Points had been invited to produce a draft Programme of Development as a basis for future funding bids to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).  DCLG had asked for a first draft to be prepared by 31 May 2007 and a further draft by 31 July 2007.  Final versions were required by 1 October 2007.

The Thetford Programme of Development was known as the Thetford Prospectus and essentially covered a bid for funds in the region of £25.5m to £30m for infrastructure required to support the planned growth for Thetford. The purpose of the Programme was to enable DCLG to make informed bids into its own Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) process for Growth Points.  The CSR covered the financial years 2008/9 to 2010/11.  Breckland was the lead agency in preparing the Programme although the Whole Moving Thetford Forward Partnership had been involved in contributing to its content.  This included organisations such as Norfolk County Council, the Primary Care Trust, Norfolk Police, Thetford Town Council, Keystone Development Trust, Forestry Commission and Natural England amongst others.

Breckland Council had received positive feedback from DCLG on the two draft submissions to date and in fact DCLG had circulated the Thetford Prospectus to other Growth Points as an example of best practice.

The key purpose of the document was to identify the key pieces of infrastructure required to be funded to support future growth in Thetford.  These projects had to be supported by evidence of their cost and need.  Projects had been grouped in themed areas as follows:

• access and movement
• development and regeneration
• environment; and
• capacity.

A Member congratulated the Environmental Planning Team on their work.  He felt that this Programme of Development would allow the Council to tap into funds, not only for Thetford, but would also help to promote the rest of the District.

Another Member was concerned about the way contributions were received from developers.  He felt that the funding should be made available for education etc before the houses were built and not the other way round; particularly where Thetford was concerned as the town was in desperate need of a further two schools.  In response to this concern, the Environmental Planning Manager advised that Norfolk County Council was currently undertaking a school review in the Thetford area.

RESOLVED that the Programme of Development be endorsed and submitted to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

To receive an update from the Business Transformation Director.

There was nothing further to report.

To receive nominations for any changes to Committee and other seats from political groups.

RESOLVED that the following changes be noted:

a)            Policy Development and Review Panel 1

Marion Chapman-Allen to replace Sam Chapman-Allen

b)            Overview and Scrutiny Commission

Theresa Hewett to replace Sam Chapman-Allen

c)            General Purposes

Kate Millbank to replace Shirley Matthews