Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies received.

To be apprised of any changes to the membership of the Committee in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.

In accordance with Regulatory Procedure Rule No.4, the Committee noted the termination of Councillors N Pryce-Roberts and A Yates and the appointment of Councillors M Anderson and R Molloy for this meeting only, thereby giving effect to the wishes of the Political Groups.

Note, no other business is permitted unless, by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified at the meeting, the Chairman is of the opinion that the item(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items of business.

If a Member requires advice on Declarations of Interest, he/she is advised to contact the Legal and Democratic Services Manager in advance of the meeting.   (For the assistance of members a checklist for use in considering their position on any particular item is included at the end of this agenda sheet).

There were no Declarations of Interest received.

To receive as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 28 June 2022.

AGREED:                  That the minutes of the meeting held on the 28 June 2022 be received as a correct record.

Consideration was given to the Committee's Work Programme as set out on page 273 of the Book of Reports.

A discussion ensued on future items that the Committee would like to see included and considered in the Work Programme.

RESOLVED:   (A)   That the following items be brought back to the next meeting of the Committee

·      Update on the local partnership to record all progress made

·      Longer term profit forecasts.

·      Share the viability of the sites that are available to develop.

                        (B)  That the Senior Democratic Services Officer liaise with the Chairman of the Committee to agree a mutual time and date for the next meeting.

It is recommended that members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and as, in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption under Schedule 12A outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED:    That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s)  3  of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of that Act and as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption under Schedule 12A outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To consider the draft Council report of the Chief Operating Officer.

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Housing, Transformation and Resources as contained on pages 275 to 361 of the Book of Reports, the purpose of which was to consider the  latest business plan of Tawd Valley Developments Limited (TVDL), which is the Council's wholly owned Development Company.  The report sought comments from the Committee before it is presented to Council on the 14 December 2022.

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following:-

·         The unknown financial issues in regard to the Junction 4 Project which was included in the Business Plan.

·         Junction 4 was felt to be a commercial development which involved long term financial borrowing and would need approval by Council.

·         The timescales of the Business Plan and the individual schemes within it. 

·         Possibility of Junction 4 remaining in the plan would allow the Council to scrutinise the Scheme.

·         Whether the 13 action points in the LP independent review report of TVDL had been actioned in the Business Plan.

·         That the business plan was felt to be a dynamic business plan by some members of the Committee which would change and evolve over time.

·         A need for a comparison between the building of smaller and larger units on the Junction 4 project.

·         Eco friendly schemes.

·         Site condition survey and the energy performance standards in respect of Junction 4.

·         The Green Shoots Project.

·         The potential impact of the Liverpool freeport area on the Junction 4 project.

·         In connection with freeports, it was felt important to lobby Government to get parts of West Lancashire included in the freeport area.

·         It was felt that the draft Business Plan had plenty of time to grow and adjust moving forward.

·         The risks involved with schemes and the information that should be provided to support them.

·         That  schemes should only be included  in the Business Plan if there was certainty of the costs involved.

·         Schemes that were for developing on Council owned land were considered to be a definite and should be being considered by Council in December, but the Junction 4 Scheme needed to be taken out of the Business Plan.

·         Profit forecasts were discussed.

·         Business rates and empty units.

·         It was pointed out that the business plan report was seeking permission for TVDL to carry on with the plan as included in the report but that separate Council approval would be required for individual  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

To consider the report of the Corporate Director of Housing, Transformation and Resources.

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Housing, Transformation and Resources as contained on pages 363 to 370 of the Book of Reports which set out to provide the Committee with an understanding of the issues affecting the resources within Housing Property Services and the capacity to deliver regeneration works.

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following:-

·         A review of staffing had commenced and would take 3 months to complete.

·         The shortage of professional staff.

·         The possibility of shared services and what the appetite would be for this.

·         It was noted that Lancaster and Wigan had retained housing stock

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.