Agenda, decisions and minutes

Resolved to note that an apology for absence was received from Councillor V Anslow.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2024 were received.

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2024 be approved and signed as an accurate record of the meeting.

The chair invited members to make a declaration of interest if they wished to do so.

The following declarations were made:

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The circulated report of the Assistant Director of Regulatory Services, Iain Smith, was reviewed to evaluate the proposal to remove the hackney carriage carriage zones in North Northamptonshire.  This recommendation, put forth by the Licensing and Appeals Committee of 21 March 2024 is scheduled to be considered by the Executive in June 2024.

The report was presented to committee by Russell Howell, Licensing and Service Support Manager.  Mr Howell firstly explained the difference between the operation of the private hire vehicles and hackney carriages; with private hire vehicles, requiring three licences, one for the driver, one for the vehicle and one for the operator under legislation from 1996.  Hackney carriage drivers needed two licences, one for the driver and one for the vehicle under legislation from 1847.

Currently hackney carriages operated in each of the four legacy council areas, known as zones and could only operate in the zone they were licensed for. If they wished to operate in each of the four zones for the whole of North Northamptonshire, they would currently be required to have four licenses for the driver and four for the vehicle for each of the zones.  Hackney carriage drivers would generally sit on the rank in the relevant zone they were licensed for, and they could also be flagged down if they were showing a light on the top of their cab.

Mr Howell explained that in September 2023 the Executive approved that a consultation be undertaken to ascertain whether to remove the hackney carriage zones in North Northamptonshire. Such consultation took place between 30 October 2023 and 21 January 2024.

The outcome of the consultation, reported to the Licensing and Appeals Committee in March, determined that they would recommend to the Executive the removal of the zones and a review of the hackney carriage bye laws.  

The appendices to the report contained responses received via the website and emails.  Also detailed in the report was information obtained from other authorities who had previously de-zoned and how this had manifested itself.

He high-lighted policy related comments, especially regarding the initial vehicle age and the geographical/knowledge test.  He clarified that if de-zoning is approved zone the policy, byelaws and procedures will undergo a review.  The consensus is that the outdated knowledge test needs redesigning. While there were worried about taxi ranks becoming congested, evidence from other authorities suggested this is unfounded. Typically hackney carriages persist in operating within their traditional locations.   

Before work could commence on updating the byelaws a decision was needed on whether the four zones would remain or whether the decision would be made to de-zone. There would therefore be a lengthy period from the decision being made to implementation, to enable the policy and byelaws to be reviewed and the test to be redesigned.   

The chair thanked Mr Howell for his presentation.

The chair informed the committee that he had received two requests to address the meeting from Mr I Robb and Mr N Rielly. Each spoke for three minutes.

During  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

The circulated report of the Executive Director for Place and Economy, George Candler, was received to discuss the recommendations of the Developer Contributions Scrutiny Panel.

Mr Candler introduced the report and commended the work of the scrutiny panel supported by Stacey Wylie, Senior Project Manager – Developer Contributions.

Mrs Wylie presented the report and explained that in 2023 the Place and Environment Scrutiny Committee established the Developer Contributions Scrutiny Panel to carry out a review of the developer contributions service (also known as Section 106 obligations). The review followed the findings of the audit report and peer review carried out between April 2021 and September 2022, which highlighted areas for improvement across different aspects of the service, including legacy arrangements. 

The panel had met on three occasions in January, February and April with specialist officers who thoroughly explained the process and the work that was being undertaken to harmonise the information from the legacy councils. The panel had made a point of emphasising the need for communication and transparency particularly for town and parish councils.

Following on from the scrutiny panel the following recommendations were agreed:

(a)           That there is a mechanism for councillors, town and parish councils, to access (either directly or via the Developers Contributions team) details regarding S106 Agreements within their respective areas, including information on new and historic S106 Agreements;

(b)           Councillors be notified of the signing of any new S106 Agreements within their wards and the contributions that these will provide;

(c)            Councillors, town and parish councils are better informed of the process for putting forward comments in relation to S106 requirements within their wards during consultation stage on new planning applications, supported by easy-to-use guidance setting out the types of contributions that may be secured based on adopted policy, evidence and strategic priorities;

(d)           Details of all relevant policy documents relating to securing S106 obligations be easy to locate on the council’s website;

(e)           To explore (where appropriate) the use of bonds to provide added security to the Council in respect of S106 contributions payable;

(f)             That an annual report be presented to councillors detailing S106 funds requested, secured, collected, spent and returned, and confirming future priorities for project delivery;

(g)           That work continues to complete the restructure of the service to support the management of S106 Agreements and ensure enough resources and capacity are in place to enable improvements to be implemented;

(h)           That work to move legacy S106 records into a single new ICT system for planning continue, supported by the transformation team, enabling a more harmonised and streamlined monitoring and reporting process for developer contributions.

The committee welcomed the report and the recommendations particularly in relation to the engagement with town and parish councils and the way in which they could make suggestions and put forward projects. 

A question was asked about whether S106 monies could be less constrictive to ensure the monies could be used for schools, doctors, dentists, community centres etc and whether broader projects could be considered not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

The circulated report of Mr Waterworth, Assistant Director Assets and Environment was received to provide a summary of the work carried out in relation to the delivery of the Carbon Management Plan (CMP) in accordance with the council’s wish to become a carbon neutral council by 2030.

The Annual Carbon Management Report 2022/23 was appended to the report.

Mr Waterworth presented the report to committee and explained that in December 2022, Council endorsed the Carbon Management Plan (the plan) and the route map towards being carbon neutral by 2030. 

He informed committee that the plan had been reviewed quarterly by the Sustainable Communities Executive Advisory Panel and the annual report reflected the progress made for the period December 2022 to December 2023.  He detailed the changes, proposed new activities and current carbon footprint of the council.  He referenced some of the key points and the commitment to build foundations to move the work forward, along with the submission of funding bids, and the work being undertaken on projects to achieve carbon reductions.  There had also been positive investment in, for example, electric refuse vehicles and the introduction of battery-operated equipment. 

Councillor Harriet Petland, Executive Member for Climate and the Green Environment referenced the key points of the Carbon Management Annual Report and commended the work of officers involved in the production thereof. The council was progressing well and moving in the right direction to become carbon neutral and she welcomed the feedback of the committee.

The chair thanked officers and Cllr Pentland for the introduction to the report and opened it up for debate.

Councillor Fedorowycz thanked officers for their work on the production of the plan and noted the progress made and the detailed data within the report along with the ‘RAG’ ratings on progress. She recognised that a lot of foundations had been laid, but shared some concern over resourcing issues, particularly with employing and retaining officers to progress the work programme.

In summary some of the points raised by members are detailed below:

·       Assets – in relation to large scale renewables, it was suggested that the use of the ‘Big Solar Coop’ be explored?

·       In relation to the overarching timeline and working towards 2030 for net zero, it would be preferable for some projects to be brought forward to net zero by 2025. Whilst appreciating there would be challenges in doing so the work towards net zero needed to be progressed as quickly as possible.

·        Fugitive emissions were a lot higher than anticipated from the transport fleet and a request for more detail on this was requested.  

·       Smart Meters – it was noted that the timescale for completion was five years and a request was made that the contract be revisited to conclude this in a much shorter timescale, as it was important to know the energy being used in each building. 

·       EPC ratings – the deadline for completion of this was considered too long and a suggestion was made that outside companies could be used to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

There being no further business the chairman closed the meeting at 9.10pm.

                        Chairman………………………………..

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