Decision details
Questions to Portfolio Holder for Growth and Prosperity
Decision Maker: Scrutiny Committee
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
Decisions:
The Portfolio Holder for Growth and Prosperity, Councillor
Higgins:
(a) gave
a presentation (copies of which had been circulated at this meeting and is
attached), setting out current performance, focus and challenges for the
portfolio around:-
·
Town Centre, Tourism, Events and Place Promotion
·
Economic Growth and Inward Investment
·
Planning Policy and Housing Delivery
·
Major Developments
(b) asked
Members if the format of the presentation had been useful and advised that more
in-depth information would be provided as the portfolio grew.
Members commented that the presentation had been helpful and
they looked forward to receiving more information in due course.
A Member asked if it was viable for the Council to set up a
housing company to tackle housing needs.
The Councillor Higgins provided a brief overview of how a housing
company would work and the Director for Growth and Regeneration, Mrs. Parikh
advised that there was an appetite for this.
The Council had approved it in principle last year and an outline
business case has been prepared.
Drafting a detailed business case was the next stage, once development
information was in place.
A Member queried if there had been any progress on car
parking charges, in relation to pay on departure. Councillor Higgins confirmed that he had
raised this with Mrs. Parikh. This could
increase revenue for the Council.
Another Member asked if developers would find it more
viable to build if the ‘builder’s contribution’ was ended. Councillor Higgins advised that the
contributions were required to provide community facility but viability was
taken into account.
Referring to the Council’s five year land supply, a
Member asked how many new homes could be built during that time. The Assistant Director for Strategic Planning
and Regulatory Services, Mr. Worley advised that the Council’s supply was just
under eight years and this equated to approximately 2,500 new homes which could
be built.
Another Member commented that tourism formed part of this portfolio and enquired whether the Council should recruit a Tourism Officer. Councillor Higgins advised that as yet it was unclear what the remit of such a position would be and there was no money available to fund this role. It was highly likely that if the Council did wish to recruit a Tourism Officer, the position would be funded through the revenue it created and should be partly supported by the businesses it would be involved with.
Publication date: 12/08/2019
Date of decision: 23/07/2019
Decided at meeting: 23/07/2019 - Scrutiny Committee
Accompanying Documents: